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READ THIS
The poet contemplates the concept of true love where there are no impediments and no changes.
Although love can be seen, its real value can never be measured. Neither is it the plaything of Time,
something that shrinks with the onset of old age.
Indeed, the brightness of youth may disappear as old age advances, but love will continue even till death.
ABOUT THE POET
William Shakespeare -- commonly known simply as "The Bard" -- was born in April 1564.
Although he lived a mere 52 years, he has won himself the reputation of being the greatest of all English
poets and playwrights.
He grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon where, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway with whom he had
three children. Modern scholars love to question whether or not he was actually gay -- such is the
energy-sapping research of these scholars.
The Bard established a most successful career for himself in acting and in writing for the stage. Ultimately
he became the part-owner of The Lord Chamberlain's Men, a theatrical company which eventually
came to be known as The King's Men.
In his early years in theatrics, Shakespeare focussed his attention on writing comedies and histories. Only
later did he produce a series of tragedies such as Hamlet, Macbeth and King
Lear, the works for which he is preeminently known.
Although he wrote two lengthy narrative poems as well as several other shorter poems, his reputation as
a poet was established through his amazing collection of sonnets -- 154 in all.
Indeed, his particular style of sonnet, commonly known as the Elizabethan form, is also referred to simply
as "the Shakespearian sonnet".
In about 1613, he returned to Stratford-upon-Avon and died there in April 1616.
Scholars would later come to question not only his sexual stance but also whether or not it was he who
actually wrote all the works attributed to him.
Have you looked at the questions
in the right column?
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TEST YOURSELF!
Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:
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.
- What does the poet mean when he speaks about a "marriage of true
minds"? (4)
[Need help?]
Is the poet speaking about marriage? Or is he using the term "marriage" as a metaphor for
something else? Or both?
Marriage, of course, means a union and in this sense the poet probably does mean the union of true
minds.
If two people, therefore, are mentally united, then nothing should come between their friendship, whether
it be a marital friendship or a "soul friendship".
The poet could therefore be speaking of male/female friendships, female/female friendships or male/male
friendships.
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- Explain the idea that "love is not love which alters when it alteration finds". (4)
[Need help?]
The poet speaks continually of the stability of true love.
It is not love, he says, when the couple respond to any forces which are trying to tear the union or the
friendship apart. Indeed, they should be resisting such forces.
In other words, if the people alter -- such as in growing sick, aging, accident damage, etc -- that should
not change the attitude of love.
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- How can love "bend with the remover to remove"? (4)
[Need help?]
There are forces out there, says the poet, which aim at destroying the love or affection between two
friends.
One such force is the aging process. Another is ill health.
The poet points out the it is not true love when one partner or the other co-operates with those forces and
actually helps them to destroy the love.
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It is an ever-fixéd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken.
- Explain these lines in your own words. (4)
[Need help?]
We are looking here at such things as lighthouses, aren't we?
The lighthouse is so solid that no matter what storms lash against it, no matter what waves crash over it,
it will stand immovable.
In this sense, love is the indestructible foundation to all relationships because, no matter what the storms,
the love will hold the relationship together.
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- Why is there a diacritical mark over the "e" in "fixéd"? (4)
[Need help?]
The sonnet has 10 syllables per line, broken into five feet or pentameters consisting of an
unstressed followed by a stressed syllable, called iambic: hence the term iambic
pentameters.
The word "fixed" without the diacritical mark would give you one syllable, and the line would then
consist of only nine syllables.
To increase the line to ten syllables, however, the diacritical mark has to be added and "fix - ed"
is transformed into two syllables.
Did you know that the number five has always carried a holy significance? The ancient Holy Rosary has
five sets of beads, each set consisting of ten beads.
Why did so many poets write sonnets? Is it because the pentameters or metre of five feet were
considered holy?
One can also then ask why it is that the United States government is housed in a pentagon.
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It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
- What is a "wand'ring bark"? (2)
[Need help?]
The Elizabethan Age was the great age of sailing ships which plied their way over the oceans to the new
worlds beyond.
Such a ship was known as a "barque" -- or "bark" in Shakespearian times. Hence the
expression, "To disembark from a ship".
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- What is the relationship of the star to the "wand'ring bark"? (2)
[Need help?]
The captains of these sailing ships mapped their progress by taking readings from the stars at night. As
long as the stars could be seen, the ship could be safely guided across the oceans to its destination.
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- What is purpose of comparing love to measuring the star's "height"? (2)
[Need help?]
The poet says that love is the star for relationships. Just as there are stars to guide the sailing ship across
the ocean, so the relationship will not get lost in the sea of daily strife as long as there is love.
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Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come.
- What is meant by "Time's fool"? (4)
[Need help?]
Kings used to have their court jesters -- known as "fools" -- whose function it was to make the
monarch laugh.
The fool also had a vital role to play in the court because only the fool was allowed to tell the total truth
while he was joking -- which meant that the fool could inform the king of possible stupidity being
committed by either the monarch himself or by his advisors.
"Love is not the fool of Time", says the poet. Love is not the court-jester of Time.
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- What do "rosy lips and cheeks" signify? (2)
[Need help?]
We have here the personification of time -- Old Man Time or the Grim Reaper -- who goes around with
his sickle collecting the dead into his harvest.
In this case, though, Old Man Time collects all the beauty of youth -- the "rosy lips and cheeks".
In other words, Time turns youth into old age.
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- What is meant by "within his bending sickle's compass come"? (4)
[Need help?]
The Grim Reaper always carried his scythe or sickle with which to harvest people into his everlasting sack.
The sickle was curved in shape.
Old Man Time would therefore collect beauty into his sack. The beauty of youth would disappear with
advancing age.
This change, however, will not affect the relationship if love is its guiding force.
In what sense can we say that Love is not the fool of Time? Love does not the collaborate with Time.
Indeed, love will have nothing whatever to do with the aging process.
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