Sonnets 18 and 116 are two of Shakespeare's most quotable love poems. If youandrsquo;re a fan of weddings, rose-petal-filled baths, or Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility, you'll probably recognize the lines Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? and Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds. The problem with quotes, however, is that they lack context. Let's do a quick line-by-line overview of Sonnets 116 and 18.andnbsp; You might be surprised to find that one of these so-called andldquo;loveandrdquo; poems is very much not like the other.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments.

This is Shakespeareandrsquo;s equivalent of saying andldquo;Mumandrsquo;s the wordandrdquo; to the olandrsquo; andldquo;Speak now or forever hold your peaceandrdquo; bit of the marriage ceremony. In fact, Shakespeare wonandrsquo;t even admit the word andldquo;impedimentsandrdquo; to the line that talks about marriage. Love: 1; Impediments: 0.

andhellip;Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:

In other words, heandrsquo;s not one for pulling any of this andldquo;youandrsquo;ve changedandrdquo; crap.

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

Psh, tempests.

It is the star to every wandandrsquo;ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

The star to every wandandrsquo;ring bark? Thatandrsquo;d have to be the North Star, which never appears to move from its place in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason its andldquo;worthandrsquo;s unknownandrdquo; is because Europeans didnandrsquo;t know a whole heck of a lot about stars back in Shakespeareandrsquo;s day, what with still being bitter about the Earthandrsquo;s roundness and all.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love: 2; Rosy Lips and Cheeks: 0. On a side note, remember that this is Shakespeare, meaning that anything a 12-year old could possibly construe as dirty probably is. Feel free to laugh, therefore, at the image of Old Father Timeandrsquo;s andldquo;bendingandrdquo; sickle.

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

Love: 3; Edge of Doom: big olandrsquo; goose egg. If love could speak, itandrsquo;d be saying andldquo;booyaandrdquo; right about now.

If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Did Shakespeare just take an oath upon his own poetry? Themandrsquo;s fightinandrsquo; words. If youandrsquo;re not sure why, itandrsquo;ll all make sense when we get to Sonnet 18.

Like Sonnet 116, Sonnet 18 is ranked high up there on Sappy Poetry listsandhellip; usually by people who go for explicit rather than implicit meaning. If youandrsquo;ve ever considered including a reading of Sonnet 18 at your anniversary party, the last three or so lines will probably change your mind. (If youandrsquo;re a really careful reader, the first two will do the trick.) Letandrsquo;s start from the top.

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summerandrsquo;s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Aww, how sweet! We thinkandhellip; To be sure, letandrsquo;s read it again andndash; aloud. Remember to stress every second syllable, like so:

Shall I compare thee to a summerandrsquo;s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Ah hah! Notice how andldquo;Iandrdquo; is emphasized but andldquo;theeandrdquo; and andldquo;thouandrdquo; arenandrsquo;t? Sneaky. Letandrsquo;s continue.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summerandrsquo;s lease hath all too short a date:

Canandrsquo;t argue with that.

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmandrsquo;d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or natureandrsquo;s changing course untrimmandrsquo;d;

Yeah yeah, we get it andndash; everything in nature fades. Go back to that andldquo;thouandrdquo; person already.

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Woohoo! And the andldquo;thyandrdquo; is emphasized! We knew Shakespeare would come around eventually!

Nor lose possession of that fair thou owandrsquo;st,

We like where this is going.

Nor shall death brag thou wanderandrsquo;st in his shade,

Good, good. Keep it coming!

When in eternal lines to time thou growandrsquo;st;

Uh oh, weandrsquo;ve got ourselves a conditional. So letandrsquo;s get this straight: all that not fading, getting ugly, or dying business depends on growing in some eternal lines to time? What does that even mean? And please donandrsquo;t tell us it has anything to do with the fact that Sonnets 1-17 are also known as the andldquo;procreation sonnets.andrdquo; If Shakespeareandrsquo;s saying that the best way to bottle up all them good looks is by creating genetic blood lines, weandrsquo;re going to go ahead and turn down that second date.

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

Another conditional?!? Okay, okay: andldquo;so long as men can breathe, or eyes can seeandrdquo; is actually a decent amount of time, so weandrsquo;ll let it slide.

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

At last! andndash; an emphasized andldquo;theeandrdquo;! But hold the phone: whatandrsquo;s giving thee life? Some unnamed andldquo;thisandrdquo;?? Is Shakespeare referring back to those eternal lines? To give him a little credit, he probably knows enough about grammar to use the pronoun andldquo;theseandrdquo; when talking about something plural. Dare we askandhellip; if andldquo;thisandrdquo; is the sonnet itself? Might Shakespeare be suggesting that being featured in his work immortalizes you? Are those eternal lines the lines of the sonnet itself? Is the final thee only emphasized because itandrsquo;s the end result of Shakespeareandrsquo;s awesome, immortalizing poetry skills?

Probably. After all, being Shakespeare is like being an Elizabethan rockstar: you can bully the roadies, sleep with the groupies, trash the hotel rooms, and still be the worldandrsquo;s darling. And letandrsquo;s face it: if you went down in history as The Bard, youandrsquo;d probably swear by your own poetry too.

andnbsp;

Add Your Picture

Article Submitted By: PaulThomson
This Article Has Been Read 256 Times

---

Remember: The article body, title, author bio and links may not be changed or removed. By publishing this article, you agree to all the terms in our Terms of Service.
Get the HTML for reprinting the article to your site

Rating: Not yet rated

--Choose-- 0 1 2 3 4 5

Careers with a Business Degree

The Value of Higher Education

A Letter Of Recommendation Can Help

Why You Need To Test Over Your ISEE Answers?

Career vs. College

Industry Associations for Physical Therapy Careers

Is College Worth It?

Balancing a Busy College Agenda

Executive MBA Specifically Designed For Professionals

Asian B-Schools Benefit From Stable Economy

Teaching in a Private School

Online MBA - Distance Education Can Help You

How After School Tuition Helps Make Your kid Academically Successful

Books For Children

Time for new thinking in India Education

---