Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds flashcards

traditional sonnet (form)

true love the same throughout the ages

ababcdcdefefgg rhyme scheme and iambic pentameter

constancy of true love - rhyme + pentameter is strong and consistent. GG at the end brings back to original message - love is unchangeable

semantic field of time + personification of 'love is not Time's fool'

love is eternal/time erases people but love endures/ time cannot mess with love/ shows absolute conviction

polyptoton of 'which alters when it alteration finds....'

love which bends or alters is not true love

metaphor of 'ever fixed mark'

gives guidance + permanence of true love

metaphor of 'it is the star'

invaluable/ guides us/ grounds us when lost/ love's sheer power.

plosives + personification of 'bending sickle's compass come'

- scornful/ triumphant tone - physical beauty succumbs to time, not love/ love endures obstacles/ love endures as age increases

contrast of 'brief hours and weeks' and 'edge of doom'

briefness of life to longevity of love + love unaffected by death/ everlasting + enduring nature of love

Direct address + sense of finality + certainty

humour/ light hearted ( he thinks he's right)/ proved and loved don't actually rhyme - jarring so memorable. + 'no man ever loved' - untrue - shows how confident he is that he's right

'worth's unknown'

value of love is immeasurable.

iambic pentameter of 'love alters not' emphasises 'not'

emphasises firm beliefs

caesura + iambic pen of 'o no,'

pause after stress of 'no' - shows passion.

metaphor of 'looks on tempests and is never shaken'

shows enduring nature of love

speaker uses perfect rhymes (would have been perfect in his time when there was no set pronounciation)

persuasive + capable argument

volta

breaks poem up so speaker can summarise rest of argument