SONNET 116-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

LET ME NOT TO THE MARRIAGE OF TRUE MINDS

PARAPHRASE OF THE SONNET
I am not prepared to recognize any obstacle in the way of the union of true lovers.
Love is not true if it undergoes a change because of a change in the attitude of the beloved.
A man’s love for his sweetheart is not true if it yields to the whims of a beloved who shifts
her affections from him to somebody else. O, such is certainly no the case! True love is like a
fixed mark which stands firm against the assaults of storms and gales on the sea, and is
never shaken from its place. True love may be compared to the northern star which remains
fixed in the sky at one place and which, in olden days, used to serve as a guide to ships
sailing on the sea and sometimes getting lost. The value of the northern star was infinite and
could never be measured, even though its height from the earth could be judged with a fair
degree of accuracy. True love does not allow itself to be treated as a toy or a plaything by
time. (True love is never subject to the vagaries of time and is never influenced by the tricks
which time may play upon it, even though beauty does come within jurisdiction of Time).
The rosy lips and cheeks of a beautiful women may fade and lose their charm, thus falling a
victim to the curved sickle which time wields to mow down the grass in the field to show its
power, but true love is not affected even by this strong tool which time employs to show its
destructive power. Love does not undergo a change with the passing of the hours and the
weeks into which time has been divided and which pass at a swift pace. No; love withstands
the force of time till the very last moment of the existence of this universe and till the very
moment of the arrival of the Doomsday. If what I have said here is wrong, and if my own
love for my beloved is proved to be inconstant, then I would feel compelled to admit that
whatever I have written in my life should be treated as unwritten, and that no man has ever
loved anybody truly.

The Idea And The Emotion In This Sonnet

True love never undergoes any change. True love is constant like the northern star/polestar,
which usedvto serve as an infallible guide to ships at sea in olden times. True love never
changes with changing times.

Meanings and Explanations

The marriage of true minds – The union of the hearts or minds of the people who are true to
one another.
Admit impediments – recognize obstacles.
Which alters when it alteration finds – It refers to the fickle mindedness of the beloved. The
attitude of the beloved changes. (The idea is that even if the beloved proves inconstant, the
lover remains true).
Or bends with the remover to remove – or yields when the beloved shifts her heart from her
lover, thus proving unfaithful to him. The same idea is here repeated in different words. The
beloved may shift her affections from one man to another, but the lover’s attitude must
remain constant.
It is the star – True love is like the northern star/polestar. To every wandering bark – to every
ship that has lost its way at sea. The word ‘bark’ is used in the sense of a ‘vessel’. ‘ship’ or
‘boat’.
Love’s not Time’s fool – True love cannot be fooled by time. A true love does not change his
affections towards his beloved just because circumstances have changed with changing
times. True love will not be treated as a toy by time. A true lover rises above the
vagaries/moods of time. (‘Time’ here has been personified to emphasize its power and
strength. Time is a relentless force which nobody can withstand).