Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare is a passionate ode to true and ever-lasting love. The main theme of the sonnet is loyalty in love. The poet claims that if love is true, it can never change with time and can never disappear whatever the hardships or impediments are.
“love is not love
Which alters when it alterations finds.”
In such a way, Shakespeare stresses that loyalty and sincerity are the symbols of true love. Time can change appearance – the beauty of “rosy lips and cheeks” can wither; but time can never change the feelings which two loving hearts have for each other if these feelings are sincere:
“Love is not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come.”
The symbolic representation of love in the sonnet is achieved thanks to abundant use of metaphors with the help of which William Shakespeare explains to the reader what true love is. Thus, to describe what love is, Shakespeare compares it to “an ever-fixed mark” that can never be shaken by any hardships lovers may have to endure, or compares it to a star that is always in its place and at the definite height. Hardships which love should overcome are metaphorically compared to the tempest which is one of the most serious natural disasters.
Sonnet 116 has one more peculiarity which distinguishes it from others – it is based on negations. In order to illustrate what true love is, the poet explains what it can never be, e.g. “love is not love”, “love alters no with his brief hour and weeks”, “is never shaken”, etc. This feature of Sonnet 116 makes the right emphasis and adds emotiveness to the text.
So, the reference to such eternal symbols of love as loyalty and sincerity of feelings helps the poet convey his understanding of love. The use of negations adds passion to the descriptions emphasizing what loving people should avoid if they want to maintain the sincerity of their relationships. In addition, the abundant use of metaphors contributes to deeper depiction of love which is, in the poet’s understanding, associated with loyalty and nonsusceptibility to changes.
