Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds - William Shakespeare

STRUCTURE/FORM

• A sonnet is a poem of fourteen lines using any of a number of formal rhyme schemes, in English typically having ten syllables per line
• Sonnet 116 makes use of an alternating rhyme scheme with a rhyming couplet to end

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KEY QUOTATIONS

• “Let me not”, “I never writ nor no man ever loved”: use of negative
• “true minds”: refers to a faithful marriage
• “love is not love / Which… “: love is such a complex force that it can only be defined by what it is not
• “ever fixed mark”: refers to north star, cosmic imagery, oceanic imagery (used by sailors for navigation)
• “tempests”: a term for violent storms
• “It is the star”: cosmic imagery
• “Whose worth unknown”: personifies love, love is priceless
• “sickle’s compass come”: sickle means scythe, grim reaper, death, alliteration, reference to navigation
• “Time’s fool”, “hours and weeks”, “doom”: focus on time

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