Analysis of sonnet 116

The second quatrain of the sonnet begins ‘O no, its an ever fixed mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken’. Here the voice is saying that love is a permanent mark that remains unstirred even in bad moments. This could be interpreted as the buoy in the sea that remains fixed in its place in any condition and that helps the ship to sail safely. This could mean that love keeps people safe. It is quite true, because no animal or human would ever kill or harm their loved ones in any circumstances. The pace that has been building throughout the poem by various emjambements suddenly is slowed down. This metaphor is further continued by an extended metaphor in the rest of the quatrain. ‘It is a star to every wand’ring bark Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken’ The star in this case represents love, the ‘bark’ (synonym for ship) that represents the people and the sea signifies life. This beautiful imagery that Shakespeare has used shows that love is a guiding star to a person. The speaker says that the value of this star is ‘unknown’ which means that  no one knows the dimensions of it. Also the image of a star denotes the idea of light   which symbolises hope and also radiance. This could be interpreted as unconditional love is priceless.

The final quatrain before the last couplet, commences with ‘ Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Within his bending sickle’s compass come;’ Here the poet  personifies time by capitalising the ‘t’ to show as if Time was Love’s adversary. The voice says that love will not be fooled by time’s changes but ‘rosy lips and cheeks’ do change in time. The voice carries on ‘Love alters not with the his brief hours and weeks But bears out even to the edge of doom’. This means that love doesn’t change in time’s brief hours and weeks but it resists till the end of the world. It is quite interesting the way the poet uses the word ‘brief’ to show the defeat of Time. Then the final couplets end with ‘If this be error and upon me I never writ, nor no man ever loved’. The voice swearing to make solemn statement saying that if he is wrong about what he said then he never wrote anything nor did any man ever loved. The poet uses this technique to somehow ‘give his word’ to the reader.