Sonnet 116

Question 1

Time period

Answer 1

Renaissance

17th century

Question 2

What form is used?

Answer 2

Iambic pentameter

Shakespearan Sonnet

Question 3

What is the rhyme scheme?

Answer 3

ABAB
CDCD
EFEF
GG

Question 4

What methods are used?

Answer 4

Negative language
Repetitive phrasing
Natural allusions
Personification
Declamatory
Biblical reference

Question 5

How can the poem be interpreted?

Answer 5

'true love'- most common
enduring
unrealistic love
unattainable and inhuman
idealistic love- wouldn't have been achievable as marriage was a contract to better social standing

Question 6

The Sonnet is part of the sequence written to the ‘fair youth’

Answer 6

The poem may be a male speaker trying to repair a damaged relationship, a personal plea directed to a particular person, the speaker is trying to prove to the young man that he does love him in spite of everything and that his love won’t change.

The previous Sonnets as a whole were tumultuous, full of infidelity and gusts of passion

Question 7

What is the message of the poem?

Answer 7

Love is between two minds, not physical attractions.

Love shouldn’t change over time

Love will exist until the end of time and will remain after you’re gone

Question 8

Themes

Answer 8

Love and time/enduring love

Idealised love