Shakespeare's "Sonnet 116"

Sonnet 116 first published in 1609, also holds the alternative title "Let Me Not To The Marriage". It is quite often described as " a meditative attempt to define perfect love." In the first quatrain, the poet asserts that love is "the marriage of true minds. In utilizing the term 'true minds', he has implied that Love is beyond bodily passion, physical attraction and mundane materialism. Further, 'true minds' do not rely on attitude and aptitude. The poet affirms "Admit Impediments" for love does not have to fear trials and tribulations. The phrase is reminiscent of the service for the solemnization of matrimony as prescribed in the "book of Common Prayer": If any of you know cause or just impediment why these persons should not be joined in Holy Matrimony, you are to declare it." Change is an inevitable part of life and love should not be relegated in the process of change. The poet also avows that true love does not bend; echoing that it would in dignity, break rather than bend.

In the second quatrain by calling it "an ever-fixed mark" the poet foregrounds its perfection, permanence and persistence. The speaker expresses love through a metaphor: a guiding star to lost ships ("wand'ring barks"). The star appears more natural and constant with regard to superficial and vulnerable ships. And more significantly, it conducts the way for the ships to their destination. Just as true love becomes a way of life. It endows life with a purpose for people who have failed to apprehend any meaning in life. It is not susceptible to storms. Likewise, the significance of the lighthouse is never comprehended. Owing to practical inclinations, only the altitude is considered in navigation. Due to barren human tendencies, love cannot be restricted to mere practical use. Its merit is much beyond.

In the third quatrain, Time is personified. Like a reaper, with his sickle in hand he reaps off the roses from the lips and cheeks of the youth rendering them pale, insipid or unsightly with the course of time. The effect of time is minimized by converting time into a human adversary who can be easily sidelined. Love is all-encompassing and cannot restrict itself to hours and weeks. True love is sustained till the Day of Judgement, or rather, Eternity. It cannot be made a fool' of Time by succumbing to its physical onslaughts.

In the couplet, the speaker bears testimony to his theory of love. He claims that if his postulation is proved untrue, he avows that he must never have penned a word, and nor has any man ever loved. The poet therefore exemplifies through the couplet that love is beyond scientific syllogisms and mere rationalizing.