Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare

SONNET 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, 

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks 

Within his bending sickle's compass come; 

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, 

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

   If this be error and upon me proved,

   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/116.html

This sonnet is a Elizabethan sonnet because it was written by William Shakespeare. Using iambic pentameter like other Shakespearean sonnets and plays, the meter of the poem plays an important role in the development of theme and presentation. Moreover, Shakespeare seems to have adopted the traditional British form of the sonnet for this poem with little change to the form. Shakespearean sonnets are divided into three quatrains with each having two rhymes while the last two lines are referred to as a couplet because they rhyme with each other. As for changes to the volta (a shift in the tone/ideas of the poem), this poem really doesn't have any because of the strong adherence to the traditional form. The volta occurs between lines 8 & 9 when love is no longer referred to as a guide, but an everlasting force that never goes away. This form of poetry really helps the author develop a strong connection with his audience because the reading of the poem almost sounds like a story is being read aloud (with moral messages involved, of course!). Moreover, the volta serves a clear point where the author can transition from one idea to another. 

I chose this sonnet because it really resonated with me about all the different examples of love & relationships we have been talking about in class. Before taking AP Lit this year, I was not aware of the dominance of this theme in so many works across a variety of genres from poetry to non-fiction. The primary issues discussed in this poem are love and morality because Shakespeare not only discusses the tumult of love that helps guide the lost, but also the constant presence of love throughout life and even after death. The last lines of the poem really reaffirm to the audience that love is inevitable and cannot be avoided.