sonnet 116

Question 1

‘admit inpediments’

Answer 1

shakespeare is saying that if their love is true then questioning wether they have impediments at weddings shouldn’t even be a question

Question 2

‘true minds’

Answer 2

word true helps highlight the focus of this poem (true love)

Question 3

‘alter… alteration’ ‘remove….remover’

Answer 3

-come from the same root word
use of polyptoton emphasises the constancy
both root words also focus on change so shakespeare is tying to highlight that love dosent change or can’t be manipulated

Question 4

‘an ever fixed mark’

Answer 4

metaphor
refers to a lighthouse and guides ships at night
lighthouses are exposed to lots of bad weather, despite these conditions it is never shaken
shakespeare uses extended metaphor to refer to love like a lighthouse, whatever situation comes up, true love ‘is never shaken’

Question 5

‘it is the star’

Answer 5

shakespeare refers love to a star which again provides guidance to a ship
reiterating idea that love provides directions
like a star, you can measure its height but can’t measure it’s worth (loves value is immeasurable)

Question 6

‘love not time fool’

Answer 6

personification of love and time as if they’re in a battle
shakespeare is stating love dosent give in to time. It doesn’t matter how much time has gone by it withstands the pressure of time and remains

Question 7

‘his bending sickle compass come’

Answer 7

‘rosy lips and cheeks’ overtime, physical beauty may go but love dosent, it stays
juxtaposed constancy of true love vs physical beauty

Question 8

‘breif hours and weeks’

Answer 8

shakespeare compares shortness of life ‘hours and weeks’ with longevity of love. love stays till the ‘very edge of doom’
doom could be death or edge could be beyond death

Question 9

‘proved i never writ ever lov’d

Answer 9

emphasises the certainty shakespeare has since he has definitely written and definitely loved according to the poem
certain that true love stays and last forever

Question 10

structure sonnet

Answer 10

-traditional sonnet form (abab cdcd efefgg)

iambic pentameter

three quatrains focus on something different about love 1, constancy 2, how love provides guidance 3, longevity.

rhyming couplet at end = volta, final argument is that there’s no way he is wrong, he’s really certain and prepared to say he’s never written otherwise.
following the traditional sonnet form closely highlights constancy of true love

sonnet-romantic view of love