The sonnet emits a melancholy tone through the message the poet puts forward about the effects time will inevitably have. It is evident this message is finally received in the couplet; ‘This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well which thou must leave ere long.’ The language used by Shakespeare evokes a series of metaphors, with each quatrain representing autumn, twilight and finally the dying fire. The ‘yellow leaves’ of autumn represent the remainder of his youth that will inevitably be lost before ‘winter’ comes. The second quatrain, representing twilight, symbolises the faint afterglow of the fading sun that will be completely gone once the black night appears. The third quatrain sees the poet compare himself to the burning remnants of fire, his life a burning fire gradually burning out, while his youth is left behind like the ashes of a flame. The lack of personal pronouns becomes obvious throughout the sonnet, making it difficult to distinguish whether it is in fact a man or a woman. As do the constant references to time and transience, this lack of personal pronouns gives a powerful sense of universality; something everyone can relate to. Much debate has been sparked over ‘To love that well’ in the couplet. Is the poet claiming that, after listening to the metaphors of autumn, twilight and fire, the young man has understood that his youth will be short lived? Or is he in fact saying that the young man’s love for the poet has increased after hearing about his inevitable demise. The first quatrain sees the line ‘bare ruin’d choirs’ which is a reference to the ruined churches, the remnants that were left after monarchs at the time destroyed them, for example King Henry VIII, and represents the remnants of his youth and passion.
The central theme of Sonnet 116 is, quite simply, love. Defining love, the poet both states what it is and what it is not. In addition to this, time is another element of the sonnet, with the poem commenting ‘Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks’. Although the metaphors and imagery are notably simple, the language Shakespeare uses is fantastic and extremely emotive.
The first quatrain is concerned with proving true love will not allow impediments to falter it. The second line introduces the word ‘impediments’, a word cleverly used as it is the language of a marriage ceremony. ‘Or bends with the remover to remove’, meaning that love does not change even in the face of a seducer. The ‘seducer’ could refer to anything, although at first it is conceivable Shakespeare is referring to a person, it could be anything that would get in the way of true love, even life itself. It is evident throughout the sonnet that Shakespeare is conveying his feelings on love; that love is unchangeable and nothing should get in its way.
The second quatrain is particularly declamatory and uses rhetoric fantastically. Shakespeare speaks of an ‘ever fixed mark’, suggesting that true love is nothing but permanent, a guided mark against which love can be measured by. The reader is told love cannot be harmed by ‘tempests’, for example arguments, but always stays firm. Shakespeare’s mention of ‘worth unknown’ suggests that love can be taken for granted, but never should be. The second theme of the sonnet becomes apparent in the third quartrain; ‘Love’s not Time’s fool’. The use of a capital letter on ‘Time’ means time has been personified, a classic technique adopted during the Renaissance era, or, as it was also known as, the age of Shakespeare. The personified version of time is again referred to in like eleven, ‘love alters not with his brief hours and weeks’. Shakespeare aims to portray the idea that, although time can take its toll on our physical selves, for example our ‘rosy lips and cheeks’, love is not susceptible to it. The final couplet gives an almost speech like impression as he states that if all he has said is proved to be wrong, he must never have written a word, and no man can ever have loved.
The entire sonnet presents an extreme ideal of love; it does not allow for any mistakes or imperfections and outlives death. The sonnet is made up of a restrained rhetorical structure, with extremely controlled rhythm and an incredible variation of tone, resulting in a passionate, urgent sense of love that the reader feels more and more as they read on. The argument Shakespeare conducts becomes increasingly forceful through his power of rhetoric and emotional conviction, particularly in the couplet which really evokes emotion from the reader as Shakespeare says that if what he’s written is proved to be wrong, then no man has ever truly loved.
Sonnet 130, the most humorous of the three sonnets, represents an iconoclastic view of the cliché poems that had been popular at the time, in which poets exaggerated the beauty of their mistresses. Whilst Shakespeare demonstrates the affection he feels towards his mistress, he appears to be more concerned with honesty about her appearance than sparing her feelings. Although on first impression the sonnet may seem slightly cruel, it is in fact far less superficial than the poems and sonnets that preceded them, Shakespeare demonstrates that physical beauty is merely a small aspect of love, and emphasises the importance of sincerity and genuine affection. The form of this sonnet is slightly different to the other two, whilst the first quatrain describes a different physical feature of his mistress, the remaining eight lines are cut down into pairs, the first describing her cheeks, the second describing her breath which ‘reeks’, the third describing her voice and the last one describing the way she ‘treads on the ground’ when she walks. The rhyming couplet at the end creates the sense that the poet has reached his conclusion. The tone in the poem changes throughout. From the outset, the reader gets a sense that the poet is cruelly mocking his mistress, the tone changes completely by the couplet. Shakespeare uses the words ‘false compare’ at the end, creating the illusion that his love is real and will last.
It is evident from the first line that this sonnet is intended to mock previous sonnets that were so popular at that period. The simile ‘nothing like the sun’ is used effectively to mock the comparisons poets often used to describe their mistresses. In addition to this, colour is also used effectively to mock the exaggeration that was commonly used; when he describes her breasts he uses the word ‘dun’ as opposed to ‘snow white’. The clichéd images of the time are used ironically and mock the poets of the time. Shakespeare puts words such as ‘roses’ and ‘perfume’ into a completely different context to what the reader would be accustomed to, and uses them in a negative manner. Considering the sonnet is ultimately about love, the word love itself is only used twice in the sonnet. The first time it is used, in line nine, it is emphasised which reinforces the significance of the word and its meaning. In opposition to the rest of the sonnet, the final couplet conforms to the conventional sonnet form of the period. This is therefore used to even greater effect as it is juxtaposed with the rest of the unconventional sonnet.
