Sonnet 116
E493810
Sonnet 116 is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets, renowned for its meditation on the steadfast and unchanging nature of true love.
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
English sonnet
ⓘ
Shakespearean sonnet ⓘ poem ⓘ |
| addressedTo | an unspecified beloved ⓘ |
| approximateCompositionPeriod | 1590s ⓘ |
| asserts |
true love is not subject to time
ⓘ
true love is unchanging ⓘ |
| author | William Shakespeare NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| centuryOfComposition | 16th century ⓘ |
| closingCoupletFunction | speaker's assertion of truth of the poem ⓘ |
| commonlyStudiedIn | English literature courses ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | love altered by time ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | England ⓘ |
| criticalReputation | one of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets ⓘ |
| famousLine |
If this be error and upon me proved, / I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
ⓘ
It is an ever-fixed mark ⓘ Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds ⓘ Love's not Time's fool ⓘ |
| firstLine | Let me not to the marriage of true minds ⓘ |
| firstPublication | 1609 quarto of Shakespeare's sonnets ⓘ |
| form | 14-line sonnet ⓘ |
| genre | love sonnet ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| literaryMovement | English Renaissance NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod | Elizabethan era NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| metricalPattern | iambic pentameter ⓘ |
| numberInSequence | 116 ⓘ |
| openingQuatrainTopic | definition of true love ⓘ |
| partOf |
Shakespeare's 154 sonnets
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Shakespeare's sonnet sequence NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| poet | William Shakespeare NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| publisherOfFirstEdition | Thomas Thorpe NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| rhymeScheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GG ⓘ |
| structure | three quatrains and a final couplet ⓘ |
| subjectMatter | idealized, steadfast love ⓘ |
| theme |
constancy in love
ⓘ
marriage of true minds ⓘ time and love ⓘ true love ⓘ |
| usesDevice |
alliteration
ⓘ
enjambment ⓘ metaphor ⓘ paradox ⓘ personification of Time ⓘ |
| usesMetaphor |
love as a star to every wandering bark
ⓘ
love as an ever-fixed mark ⓘ |
| widelyAnthologized | true ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.