True Love Defies Limits: Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 - Essay Sample

Introduction

Let me not to the marriage of true minds or sonnet 116 by Shakespeare’s is a love poem. Through the poem, Shakespeare tries to define. He does this by personifying love explaining its bounds and how it defies limits. The sonnet is said to be a dedication poem through which Shakespeare tries to explain the depth of love. The poem contains passionate claims. For instance, Shakespeare states that love is timeless, and nothing can dictate what becomes of it; in that, true love is uncontrollable, and it can only grow regardless of what happens around it. By personifying love, Shakespeare can characterize it, giving a visual to the readers of the poem. From the poem, one can quickly identify true love. The time aspect helps the poet to push his message. Indeed, love can only be said to be timeless as it is not swayed by storm but holds firmly to navigate the passing storms and eventually emerges out strong than it was before.

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Love can only be said to be true is it defies the tough times without withering. According to Shakespeare, nothing can come between two people who love each other truly. Moreover, love is immeasurable as its strength helps those in its ship navigate through. It cannot be shaken but rather through the tough times it goes founder. In addition, even as time goes by and lover physical appearance starts to wither away, love remains. Love stays alive even in death that although either lover might have passed on even in death, they still love each other. Finally, Shakespeare, states that if what he defines as love is wrong, then no one has ever loved or been loved.

Shakespeare starts the poem with a vow on the first and second lines. From both lines, the poet tries to state that nothing can separate two people who are in love (Shakespeare). In such Shakespeare brings up the idea of marriage a union between two people symbolically represented by minds to mean people. He goes ahead in the second line to say admit impediment to symbolizes the vows of the union. Whether the union is legal or illegal, the two people in each should commit by admitting their impediments.

Line three to five of the sonnet, Shakespeare explains the nature of love. To him, love conquers anything and everything stating that if challenges alter love, then it was not true love (Shakespeare). More so, he states that even if an outsider tries to change the love between two people they cannot be able as true love is limitless. Through lines six to seven, Shakespeare explains the strength and abilities of love. To him, love is constant and immovable it is grounded, and it weathers all hardships, it cannot be shaken or even defeated. On to the next lines eight and nine, he continues to praise loves capabilities stating that it is like a star or a ship on the water that guides the people in it. He acknowledges that its worth as priceless admitting that it can be measured. However, he does not say how to quantify love.

In the following lines ten and eleven, Shakespeare state what love is not. Using time to personify love and even capitalizing it to emphasize, he states that love is not bound to time (Shakespeare). He emphasizes that not even death can stop time. That as time goes and age adds up changing the person's physical appearance, love can only grow founder. He assures the readers that although death shall come, it will not come on the way of love as love is eternal. Although lines eleven and twelve, he continues to emphasize echoing that true love does not change but will forever live through time.

On to line thirteen and fourteen, Shakespeare continues to affirm that love conquers everything and last forever. In his final lines, he challenges the readers that what he describes is the true meaning of love (Shakespeare). That if anyone can disapprove of his definition that there is no love and what exists is only an illusion. Throughout the poem, what remains outstanding is Shakespeare’s perception of love. Unlike any other definitions from the poem, only two factors remain outstanding that true love is unchanging and that it can only grow regardless of the circumstance.

Shakespeare uses an ordinary language to convey the message in the sonnet extraordinarily. He uses devices like metaphors, imagery, and personification to convey a message of passion for love. Through mastery, he can rhetorically structure the poem creating emphasis and balance in defining what love is and what it's not. More so, through the use of tonal variation, the poet can layout the message of passion perfectly.

Shakespeare, through his poem, paints an image of something unattainable but straightforward. For a typical reader, the poem may seem like a message of affection, but under scrutiny, it raises questions. The poet paints an image of love away from people’s regular lives. It creates an illusion, and its unchanging nature portrays unattainable things. It does not seem human rendering it impossible in the current live setup. More so, from the last line, the poet invokes his readers feeling making them question the credibility of his definition. Arguably love can take different faces; hence, the question does that mean it is not true. Shakespeare's idea of love thus remains one that people can only admire but rarely attain.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Sonnets,(Sonnet 116). England, 1906.