What is the theme of the poem Sonnet 116?

Question

where do u think the turn is?

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.

Answer 1

Love does not change. Love is eternal.

A favorite theme of the Elizabethan poets was mutability: how all things changed with time. Shakespeare responds by this triumphant celebration of the immutability of love.

Shakespeare's sonnets, consisting of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, do not necessarily have the "turn" of the Italian sonnets. However, there may be a slight shift in imagery after the first two quatrains, a bit reminicent of the Italian octave and sestet.

The first quatrain simply states directly that love is not subject to change, to "alteration" or removal.

The second quatrain shifts to the imagery of seamanship and the constant immutability of the North Star ("the star to every wand'ring bark / Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken"). The sea is an image of constant change; the ships "wander" over the sea. But the star is absolutely unchangeable, never wavering. We may not realize its importance ("worth unknown") but we can always rely on its constancy ("height").

The third quatrain (with perhaps a hint of a "turn") changes to the imagery of Time, personified as a reaper with a sickle. Shakespeare makes his bow to the theme of mutability: "rosy lips and cheeks" will be subject to Time and the inevitability of loss. But even that Grim Reaper has no power over "the marriage of true minds." Such love will survive "even to the edge of doom," or beyond Time itself to the Day of Judgement or eternity.

The couplet simply says that as sure as he's writing this now, what he is saying is right: "If this be error . . . / I never writ, and no man ever loved."

What is implicit in the sonnet, but not stated outright, is that the sexual intensity of youthful love may change ("rosy lips and cheeks"), but love goes beyond the physical to Plato's ideal love, spiritual if you will ("true minds"). So, while Shakespeare admits to the theme of mutability on the physical level, he maintains that love is immutable, on another plane altogether.

This is still my favorite Shakespearean sonnet, one that I quoted to my children so often that they grew sick and tired of it. But then it showed up in a wedding ceremony!

True love doesn't change. They heard me say it over and over again. But they saw it live in their mother and father's "marriage of true minds."

Answer 2

The turn is after the octet (first 8 lines - the next 6 are called a sestet.) Shakespeare's sonnets are also divided into quatrains (4 lines each.) You can see that his tone changes a little in each quatrain.

The theme is true love, with relation to the marriage ceremony (which mentions 'lawful impediments')

Answer 3

you can say that the theme is the definition of love. This sonnet is one of undying sonnets of Shakespeare, in it he confesses his unwavering love to the fair lord. he says that love can't change by time or by the actions of the loved one. he says that it's an ever fixed mark, that looks on tempests and is never shaken.
This sonnet is very simple in structure and clear, but it's so deep in meaning. it actually has no turn unlike the other sonnets.

Answer 4

The theme is that love is a constant, unlike beauty that diminishes over time. I think the turn is in the final couplet, when Shakespeare is doubting himself almost, that it is possible someone can prove he is wrong, and his whole lifes' work is wrong; "i never writ...".

Answer 5

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Answer 6

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Answer 7

Love never changes no matter what forces try to influence it

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