of

Shakespe
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William Shakespeare
Author’s Background
William shakespeare was a renowned English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-
upon-Av0n. His birthday is most commonly celebrated on 23 April 1564, which is also believed to be the
date he died in 1616. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon”. His extent
works, including some collaborations, consist of around 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems,
and a few other verses, of which the authorship of some is uncertain. His plays have been translated into
every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
General
Meaning:
Sonnet 104 belongs to love poem about
friendship since the writer of this poem
expresses his fond memories of his first
meeting with best friend; therefore, theme
of this poem is the inevitability of the
passing of time of beauty friend, or in
another word real beauty lasts forever.
 0 0
1
Theme
Life, Time, Morality, Love,
2
154 Sonnets

Beauty, Infidelity, Jealousy,

0 0
Magic and Mystery.

3
14 lines and are
written in iambic
4
126 are addressed to young man,
28 addressed to a woman - a
pentameter mysterious ‘dark lady’
Sonnet
104
To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eyed,
Such seems your beauty still. Three winters cold
Have from the forests shook three summers pride,
Three beauteous springs to yellow autumn turned
In the process of the seasons have I seen,
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burned,
Since first i saw you fresh,which yet are green.
Ah, yet doth beauty, like a dial-hand,
Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived;
So your sweat hue,which methinks still doth stand,
Hot motion, and mine eye may be deceived:
For fear of which, hear this, thou age unbred:
Ere you were born was beauty’s summer dead.
 Theme
theme of this poem is the inevitability of
the passing of time of beauty friend, or in
another word real beauty lasts forever.
 Tone
● sincere and loving

Symbol
Symbols used in sonnet 104 are the
changing of the seasons and months such as
the word winter, summer, autumn, April,
and June.
Rhyme
abab cdcd efef gg

Meter
Iambic pentameter
Imagery
● Sense of Sight
● Sense of Smell
● Sense of Feeling
 Figure of Speech
Simile (Ah yet doth beauty, like a dial hand)
Personification (Three winters cold…Have from the
forests shook three summers’ pride; Three April
pérfumes in three hot Junes burned; ….like a dial
hand, Steal from his figure, and no pace perceived)
 Figure of Speech
Metaphor (Since first I saw you fresh, which yet are
green),
Hyperbole (Ere you were born was beauty’s summer
dead), (To me, fair friend, you never can be old
Sonnet 116
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 wand'ring 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.
 Summary
This sonnet deals with the nature of love, investigating what it is, and what it
is not. The core notion is that love is “never shaken” and an “ever-fixed
mark”. This is a theme that has carried on through our poetic tradition and
modern storytelling tradition: true love that never ends. Basically this is
theme of every romantic film ever; in twilight, they take this idea to the next
level by literally becoming immortal to be together forever. This off-quoted
sonnet is a stable of weddings for this very reason.

This is a truly beautiful sonnet and definitely worth exploring further. This is
a statement to what love is really about. Though the word marriage is used,
the sonnet has nothing to do with getting married, or the institution of
marriage. Instead it’s about true, everlasting and deep connection between
two people.
 Theme
The main theme of this sonnet
is love constancy and
permanency of love.
 Tone
The tone of the Sonnet 116 is
firm but caring. It is conveyed as
guidance in the arrangement of
words that produces a voice in
the reader's head.
 Form
The poem is written in the form
of a traditional Shakespearean
sonnet. It is composed of
fourteen lines. The first twelve
lines are divided into three
quatrains, where the speaker
explains what true love is not.
 Rhyme
Scheme
The rhyme scheme of this sonnet
is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
 Metrical
● Pattern
This sonnet, like all of the other sonnets, and like
Shakespeare’s plays, is written in iambic pentameter. A
perfect example is in line 5 (italicized syllables are
stressed):

“O no! It is an ev-er fix-ed mark”

 Figure of
1.
-
Speech
PERSONIFICATION
In the line “let me not to the marriage of true love” shows
personification, this line comes from the understanding of
the word “marriage”. If one looks a the action of marriage
and not the process of marrying (joining two things such as
oil and water together), one could justify that marriage is a
ceremony which only two people can take part in. minds
cannot be married, only people can.
 Figure of
2. ALLITERATION
Speech
- It shows in the “marriage” and “minds” in the first
line and “remover” and “remove” in the fourth line.
 Sonnet 27
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expired:
For then my thoughts--from far where I abide--
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.
Structure
14 lines
3 quatrains Couplet

POV
First person point-of-view
 Theme
● Love or longing for the
presence of one physical
absent
● A mind/body dichotomy
●
Tone
Weary with toil and trying
to sleep
● Somber mood

Mode
● Self reflective poems
● Focuses on the sleepless that
comes with restless nights.
 Symbol
● JOURNEY - imagined as if
it is a physical path
● JEWEL - the beloveds
shadow
● PILGRIMAGE - religious
devotion
Rhyme
abab cdcd efef gg

Meter
Iambic pentameter
 Figure of Speech
PERSONIFICATION - my thoughts (from where I
abide)
METAPHOR ( intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee)
( a journey to my head)
IMAGERY (present thy shadow to my sightless view)
SIMILE ( which, like jewel hung in ghastly night)