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.
Sonnet 116: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds..." by William Shakespeare • 198 poems by William ShakespeareEdit
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William Shakespeare [1564-1616] was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, in 1564. This was the sixth year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He was christened on April 26 of that year. The day of his birth is unknown. It has long been celebrated on April 23, the feast of St. George.
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By William Shakespeare, © -1, All rights reserved.
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Editor notes
The line
It is the star to every wandering bark
is a reference to a barque which was a three masted sailing ship and to the fact that early navigation was primarily done with reference to the stars in the night sky.
- an ever-fixèd mark, is correct, if I am not mistaken. iambic pentamleter and all thatRate this comment
I did not know that bark was a term for ship. I thought of "the star" as a fixed point of reference - that love serves as a constant to us when we are away from home
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- The reference is often misinterpreted when the poet renders barque as bark to create an eye rhyme as well as a true rhyme. Shakespeare is not the only one to do this although it does occur in Sonnet 80 http://allpoetry.com/poem/8449551-Sonnet_80_O__how_I_faint_when_I_of_you_do_write_...-by-William_Shakespeare . Other writers do it more often.
- if this an unproven error, the unlikliest person to prove it is me.Rate this comment
This poem really gives an insight to true love and the essence of love that is present as a spirit-like entity within both Shakespearean and modern time-frames. I have to admit that Shakespeare has probably persuaded many of us that true love does not just come from the heart, but from the heart, the mind and the soul
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Where is the rhyme in lines 13 and 14?
proved and loved have similar spellings but they hardly rhyme
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- Try emphasis, eg prove-ed and love-ed
Sorry Bob but language changes in 400 years. When Shakespeare was alive many things were pronounced differently (they still are in some parts of Stratford
). It is site policy to keep the words of the classical poets as they were published in their lifetime.
Hope it didn't spoil your enjoyment of the Bard.
Jim
Oldpoetry Research Team - Ah. Willoghby and Maryanne. His sense betrayed that love that might have been.
};-{> - This beyond excellent. Indeed, it is beyond time.
- Respect. It was straight.
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.Just wonderful!
this poem is a true reflection on the originality of love
- VERY WELL DONE. "LOVE IS NOT LOVE". SOMETIMES
"I never writ, nor no man ever loved."
Such a powerful line that still gives me the shivers to this day!
- Ecc 3:11 He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
Ecc 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth [it], that [men] should fear before him.
Ecc 7:29 But I did find this: God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path."
Ecc 7:28 Though I have searched repeatedly, I have not found what I was looking for. Only one out of a thousand men is virtuous, but not one woman!
OF COURSE THE LAST VERSE IS SYMBOLIC
WHERE MAN REPRESENTS THE CURRENT ACTIVITY OF THE CONSCIOUS CHOICS OF A FALLEN SOUL
AND WOMAN THE SOULS TOTAL PAST STATE OF SIN THAT ONE GOOD THOUGHT IS NOT ENUF TO CLEANSE THE WHOLE HEART...
Wm. Shakespeare, Esq. 'nough said.
Bill,
I love the overall message but you really need to brush up on your language skills, not to mention the flow. I could barely understand some of those lines. A lot of typos, too, i.e. "boats" not "barks".
Keep writing! Someday you might even get good.
- Sonnet 116 huh? well, I'm going to have to go back and check out the other 115 sonnets to compare and contrast.
- To me this is about love not being fickle.
But about real love bearing the mark of time; not faltering, but always being there. No matter how many times I read it, I still get a new meaning. Probably my favorite.
This is not about marriage as many here have asserted. The author is using the metaphor, cleverly, "the marriage of true minds". Wonderful sonnet known to millions over time.
- Oh Mr. Shakepeare, you make me go all a-quiver¬
wow.. I can't believe you have this on here.. this is on my page.. I fell in love with this poem in my college English class.
- From guest giglione claudia (contact)
there's one word to describe this sonnet...:wonderful!! Sonnet 116
From guest James Ward (contact)
For me the finest definition of true love ever written. The way he compares true love "an ever fixed mark that looks on tempest and is never shaken" so seamlessly with the North Star guiding a wandering bark through atormy seas then tells us how time does not alter it "even to the edge of doom (death)" And finally the certainty..."if this be error.....I never writ, nor no man ever loved." Magnificient.Superb!!!!!
From guest Excellence (contact)
wow i was amazed when i read this poem! it really touchs the heart!!!!!- From guest Ian (contact)
You know that book, I Am Legend. Well it should be about the shake-master. - From guest Anda (contact)
It is indeed a great poem cause it specifies the quality of true love. - From guest amy bieber latief (contact)
i truly enjoy his work. he is a legend.. word emphasis in first line
From guest tcons (contact)
I believe the stress should not be on TRUE but on ME. The narrator is saying that the one he loves may feel that time, age etc. has changed her, or his, feelings, but he, the narrator, refuses to accept this.tone
From guest artcharming (contact)
"If anyone knows of any reason why these two shouldn't be joined in holy matrimony, speak now, or forever hold your peace" This poem seems to be addressing one of two people who claim to be in love . . . the speaker, who apparently has feelings for at least one of the two . . . says he won't raise objections ("admit impediments") if their love is a "marriage of true minds." The fact that he doesn't hold it against this person suggests that his love will be constant, though the love of the person he's addressing hasn't been. Though his lover is going away . . .his love will not bend. He may be comparing himself (without the company of his beloved) to a wandering ship . . . lost except in relation to the "star" of his love (not the person but the emotion). The concluding couplet is a vow: if I should break my promise then I've perjured myself and everything I ever wrote is a lie . . . and anyone who says he's loved has lied as well.Note
From guest artcharming (contact)
not just "a star" but "the star" . . . reference to the pole star . . which never moves . . .Let me not
From guest Xlogic (contact)
Interpretation of...“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments” -- I don’t believe that the marriage of true minds has any impediments -- I don’t believe that a marriage of true minds will have any impediments -- If there is a true union of two minds, it (the union) will not falter -- If two people are truly in love, the union will not falter --- This encompasses what i feel.
I have to side with cynicism
From guest Eric Benjamin (contact)
It may be my inner skeptic speakin, but, I definitely sense sarcasm in this piece. At least I'd like to think that love is something alive and growing; constantly changing and renewing. I don't like thinking of love as some immovable object, and I think WS may just be calling that out in jest. Just my 2 cents.Modern Translation
From guest David (contact)
Let me not declare any reasons Why two True-minded people should not be married. Love is not love Which changes when it finds a change in circumstances Or bends from its firm stand even when a lover is unfaithful; Oh no! it is a lighthouse That sees storms but is never shaken Love is guiding North Star to every lost ship, Whose value cannot be calculated, although its altitude can be measured, Love is not at the mercy of Time, though physical beauty Comes within the compass of his sickle, Love does not alter with hours and weeks But, rather, it endures until the last day of life If I am proved wrong about these thoughts on love Then I recent all that I have written, and no man has ever [truly] loved.- From guest michelle raven (contact)
It is the star to every wandering bark, he is making comment that, every wandering dog, who says he is in love, yet persists on playing around, True love is his star, his answer to his unfaithfulness, his answer to his endless searching and unhappiness - Still spectacular after all these years.
- he is a great writer. i love him
- another of my favourite sonnet...
