Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

''Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds'' by William Shakespeare

Good Essays
732 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
''Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds'' by William Shakespeare
Basically, this poem is about love, but here shakespeare has discussed the love which is in his mind. you may disagree with him if you like.

The first stanza in this poem is a quatrain and its rhyme scheme is abab. Shakespeare uses alliteration, assonance, consonance, and repetition to develop this stanza, which, as a whole, states that love does not change. The first line contains an example of alliteration in the words “me,” “marriage,” and “minds.” In this line, he is referring to love as “the marriage of true minds.” He uses the alliteration of the “m” sound to draw attention to his view of love as being a type of marriage. The words “admit” and “impediments” in the second line are examples of both assonance and consonance because of the identical “i” and “m” sounds. The second, third, and fourth lines of this stanza contain repetition. “Love,” “alter,” and “remove” are repeated to put emphasis on the points that he is trying to make. He is saying that if a person is really in love he or she would not have to make changes in their lover to make themselves happy, and that love cannot be taken back.
The second stanza of this poem is a quatrain with a rhyme scheme of cdcd. This stanza contains assonance, a very clever metaphor, and personification in stating that love is ever-lasting and can be used as a guide in life. The words “star” and “bark” in line eight of the poem contain assonance of the “a” sound. Shakespeare uses this assonance to bring attention to the metaphor he is using, which compares love to the North Star, which is a guide for ships. By following their hearts, people can use love as a guide to get them through life. Also, the North Star is relatively permanent, and Shakespeare says love is an “ever-fixed mark” in line five of the poem. Line eight refers to a star when it says “Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.” Stars have neither ownership nor a set gender, so this line contains personification. Shakespeare speaks of love as if it were human to express the importance of it.
The third stanza of this poem is another quatrain and its rhyme scheme is efef. Personification, assonance, and consonance help to get the point across that love is independent of time. In lines eight and nine, Shakespeare says “Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come.” Even though beauty fades with time, love does not. Shakespeare personifies time to help express that love does not operate on any specific clock. He even capitalizes “Time” as if it were a real person’s name. He also personifies death in line nine when he refers to the bending sickle, which would be the weapon of the infamous reaper. Death can take away physical traits, but not true love. Shakespeare intentionally expresses his view of love as not yielding to time or any other force. The use of the words “but” and “bear” in line twelve of the poem is an example of alliteration. Shakespeare uses these words to help express that love can survive anything on its own despite the pressures and influences of time.
The fourth and final stanza of this poem is a couplet with a rhyme scheme of gg. In this stanza, the poet-speaker boasts how confident he is in his opinion of love, suggesting that if his opinion is wrong, no one has ever loved. In line fourteen, the poet-speaker declares “I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” The words “never,” “no,” and “nor” are an example of alliteration. These negative words are used to strengthen the poet-speaker’s certainty of his opinion of love. Line fourteen also has internal rhyme. “Never” and “ever” are positioned before the word “loved”. Shakespeare uses this internal rhyme to make it clear that the speaker has full faith in his own words.
William Shakespeare’s poem “Sonnet 116 is an excellent poem. Using multiple literary tools, such as metaphors, personification, and internal rhyme, Shakespeare has created a masterpiece that describes love by what it is and is not. Because of the brilliant use of tools and flow in this poem, it will remain one of the best poems ever written.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    So in class we just read the play Midsummer night's dream. I thought that the play was very interesting because this play was taken place a long time ago. But in this essay I got the question. What is Shakespeare saying about love?…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    He illustrates the love as a “fixed mark” a metaphor to the North Star which can never be shaken. “Loves not Times fool, though rosy lips and cheeks” acknowledges that time has the power to change the human body but the love will not be undermined. According to Shakespeare love of the “true minds” will bear it out even at the worst times. The first three stanzas in the poem are quatrains and the last is a couplet and it may be the strongest statement that backs up his opinion about marrying for love. “If this is an error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved” the speaker implies that he is so sure of what he believes about the nature of true love that if he is wrong, than he never wrote and no man has ever loved. His view is idealistic and he knows he has written and that people have…

    • 508 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Senior theme

    • 1264 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets have a deep meaning of love behind them and sometimes it is death that Shakespeare uses to intensify the type of love he tries to convey to his readers.…

    • 1264 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shakespeare clearly cares a great deal about the young man who has taken his interest. Whether it is a romantic or just platonic relationship is in question. Although Shakespeare had a wife and kids, you can clearly tell that there are more than just friendly feelings towards this man. He really wants the world to remember who he is. His use of diction and symbolism helps the reader connect with what he is feeling.…

    • 208 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Love is a beautiful thing, it is the feeling that some people get when they want to be with someone forever. Shakespeare was born in Stratford, England, his dream of becoming a play writer came true. That lead to Shakespeare establishing his acting company The King’s Men. Late in his career he creates a play about love called “A Midsummer Nights Dream” Shakespeare creates this play to show the impact that love has on people including the four lovers: Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia. Shakespeare uses the four lovers and their actions to his advantages and the disadvantages that love has. Eyes are a window to out soul, some people can tell a lot from someone’s eyes, including love. Along with showing how much you love someone, so does…

    • 1197 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet

    • 887 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Love is one of the main ideas in the play. The play revolves around the romantic and mutual love between the protagonists; Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. This love is displayed in Act 1, Scene 4 where Romeo meets Juliet at the Capulet feast. A sonnet is used to show that what they’re talking about is associated with love. Shakespeare’s use of this technique highlights that the love between them is real and that they are compatible with each other because they are completely in sync as they speak. A sonnet is also used in the prologue at the beginning to indicate that the play is about love. The use of sonnets has certainly proved that one of the key themes in Romeo and Juliet is love. Infatuation is one of the many types of love explored in the play. To show Romeo’s unrequited love for Rosaline, Shakespeare uses oxymorons like ‘…O brawling love, O loving hate’ and ‘Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health’. By using two contradictory words beside each other, it gives a sense of confusion. Thus showing that Romeo is experiencing mixed feelings and his feelings for Rosaline is confusing and complicated. Romeo’s love towards Rosaline confirms that romantic love is not the only type of love in the play.…

    • 887 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The following essay will explore Shakespeare’s interpretation of love informing on language, characters and symbols Shakespeare uses to display the various themes linked to love. Discussing themes of control, jealousy, insanity, fickleness and the platonic love found within the characters of ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’.…

    • 1742 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Let me Not to the Marriage of True Minds,” written by arguably the most prominent writer of all time, William Shakespeare, caries an incredible magnitude of meaning in such a short, compact sonnet. Written so eloquently, Shakespeare communicates his specific and unique idea of love in many clever ways. Throughout this sonnet, Shakespeare skillfully defines “love,” with the use of connotative language and metaphors. The lines that begin with: “O no! it is an ever-fixed mark,” “Love’s not Time’s fool,” and “I never writ, nor no man ever loved,” all consist of metaphors and connotative language that reinforce Shakespeare’s idea of the everlasting and unchanging nature of true love.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The absence of substance; the embodiment of teenagers romanticising their foolish hormonal lust. What if the intention of this play wasn’t to show the audience what love was, or to show how love can trump hate, or how hate makes love thrive? No. I now believe the play to be almost satirical, as if Shakespeare knew how demented it was to marry off what are essentially children. Or perhaps it was to show his take on love, maybe he was as jaded as the play. Tormented by a love he, as a sensible man with common sense and wisdom, knew was false.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Poetry Comparison Essay

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The subject matter is about relationships, affair and age. This poem refers to the understanding of the speaker, as he knows his mistress’s unfaithful dishonesty. The mood of this tone is somehow humorous and confusion, Shakespeare clearly knows the mistress is unfaithful yet maintains their love affair alive. The poem refers to white lies, outlining infidelity as it connects to my theme. The tone is reflective but again shifts in the last quatrain when Shakespeare This poem mentions about the age of the love affair. The speaker questions why his mistress cannot admit that he is old, but rather the two lovers let the truth be concealed.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Mistress Tone

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “And yes, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she° belied with false compare”, must be the strongest point in the poem (Shakespeare). This last part of the poem is the turning point in which the reader now understand what Shakespeare was try to say. It leads the readers to believe that beauty cannot be measured just by the eyes but sometime the heart. The way that Shakespeare writes this Sonnet could lead some to thing he was a bit tired of the same old romantic poetry. He might have also been making fun of some of his fellow poets of his…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "On Monsieur's Departure"

    • 1203 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The basic concept of this 17th century poem is one of the divided passions of Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth loved her country with fierce loyalty and control, but also had her own personal needs, and though it is not entirely certain as to whom this poem was referencing to, it is speculated to be about either the 2nd Earl of Essex or the Duc d 'Anjou (French duke of Anjou). Essex (Robert Derereaux) was 30 years Elizabeth 's junior and was a charming, opinionated man with whom Elizabeth was completely enamored, but the relationship terminated when Essex and Elizabeth had a terrible fight and Essex directed an unsuccessful revolt against her. The tragedy pierced further when Elizabeth painfully agreed to have him executed. The duke of Anjou, who later became King Henry III, was a prime member of the French royal family, being both the duke of Anjou and Alençon. He was an unattractive man, both body and face, but Elizabeth fancied him enough to allow a lengthy courtship by him. This courtship ended when the duke withdrew from the marriage negotiations in 1582, but there is uncertainty as to why. Elizabeth, if gaining nothing more from this arrangement, did secure a defense alliance and French aid against Spain. The country, in Elizabeth 's mind, remained above her own personal longings - she never married and reigned as the proud Virgin Queen.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    This poem is a parody to the Petrarchan sonnets. The denotative meaning of parody is a humorous or satirical imitation of a piece of literature or writing (Dictionary.com), and that is exactly what he does here. Shakespeare’s goal was to “poke fun” at the love poems of his time. Petrarchan poems used worn out clichés such as “eyes like the sun” and “skin as white as snow”. I am guessing that Shakespeare was tired of hearing unreal comparisons of women to things in nature. As the last line of the sonnet states “As any she belied with false compare”. He wrote this sonnet to give a realistic comparison of a beautiful woman, without all of the exaggeration and allusions used in Petrarchan sonnets.…

    • 1338 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    I may call her mine" These quotes demonstrate some of the refined yet courtly love which Shakespeare shows in the play. This was very typical during those times since people didn't marry for love but because they were arranged either for their families wealth or for their reputation. It was a time period where people didn't marry their partner because they loved them, they learned to love them because they married them. Alternatively to 'Sonnet 130', the description of love in Romeo and Juliet is very…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Sonnet 18 Research Paper

    • 1156 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The poem is a sonnet, a brief poem consisting of fourteen lines. Shakespeare sonnets have a rhyme of ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG and they also have three groups of four lines called quatrains and the two last lines are called couplets. "The speaker states, as long as people are alive to…

    • 1156 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays