Let Me Not To The Marriage of True Minds by Shakespeare(SONNET 116)

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                Shakespeare was one of the greatest poet, playwright and dramatist of England. He has written 37 plays and 154 sonnets. His plays are famous all over the world. This sonnet is the finest examples of his poems.

A Sonnet is a short poem of 14 lines. The first 8 lines are called Octave and the last 6 lines are called sestet.

A Shakespearean sonnet is divided into quatrains and couplet. His sonnet consist of 3 quatrain and a couplet. A sonnet has different rhyme schemes and the rhyme scheme of Shakespearean sonnet is abab cdcd efef gg.

Sonnet 116 is addressed to a young man, who is found to be a man with the initials of ‘W.H.’. In this sonnet Shakespeare depicts the qualities of true love. True love is constant. It is unchangeable even in the old age. Like a star, true love rules the destiny of man. True love is like a lighthouse and is not moved even by a fierce storm. It is eternal and immeasurable.

Time can take away the external beauty of the lovers. But time cannot destroy the spirit of true love. True love will not die with the passage of time. It will be alive forever.

Shakespeare compares true love to the pole star. In olden days pole star guided the ships which lost their way in the storming sea. Likewise, the true love serves as a guiding light in the journey of life. The height of the stars can be measured but not the power of stars. Similarly the depth of true love cannot be measured.

The poet says that the true love is eternal and immortal. Even death cannot have any effect on true love. ‘Edge of doom’ refers to the day of the last judgment.

Finally Shakespeare says that true love is constant at anytime. He challenges people to disapprove his theory of love. He even offers to quit writing poems if his theory of love is disapproved by anyone. Shakespeare asserts that his statement on true love cannot be challenged by anyone.

Shakespeare speaks about the qualities of true love in this sonnet, beautifully. His theory of true love is universal and accepted and admired by all.

----HAPPY LEARNING-----

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