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-fixèd 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

In Sonnet 116, the poet declares that true love always endures, no matter what challenges come its way. He defines love by explaining what it isn’t: love stays constant and remains steady, even if people and situations change. It never fades, even if someone tries to break it. Rather than being something that comes and goes, love is everlasting and unchanging.

The poet compares true love to a lighthouse (the “ever-fixed mark”) that weathers storms (tempests) but is never disturbed. He also compares it to the North Star, which remains fixed in the sky and helps guide lost ships.

Next, the poet introduces a new idea: love isn’t controlled by time or its effects, like aging and death. True love doesn’t weaken even as beauty and youth fade. It remains strong and constant until the end of life (and perhaps beyond).

Finally, the poet stakes his own credibility on this definition, declaring that if anyone can prove him wrong, he’ll take back everything he wrote, as if it never happened. Moreover, if his portrayal of love is incorrect, then, in his view, no one has ever truly loved.

Analysis 

First Quatrain (Lines 1-4):

The first two lines of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116—”Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments. Love is not love”—can be understood as the poet’s strong statement about the nature of true love. He is saying that nothing should get in the way of the “marriage of true minds,” which refers to a perfect union of two individuals who truly understand and connect with each other, mentally and emotionally.

The word “marriage” here is a metaphor, not a literal marriage, and “true minds” suggests that this connection is based on a deeper, intellectual, and emotional bond rather than physical attraction. The poet then argues that any kind of obstacle or “impediment” (a term from the Church of England’s wedding vows) should not prevent this union.

By emphasizing “minds” instead of bodies, Shakespeare is suggesting that real love is a meeting of souls or intellects—something beyond mere physical attraction or passion. The enjambment (where one line runs into the next without a pause) helps reinforce the poet’s point: just as he doesn’t allow “impediments” into the same line as “the marriage of true minds,” love should not allow any obstacles to come between true lovers.

After then, the poet defines love by highlighting what it isn’t. He repeats the idea to emphasize that real love doesn’t change (“alter”) under different circumstances. This means that even if the people in the relationship change or the world around them shifts, true love remains steady and constant.

The repetition of “alter” and “alteration” serves to contrast real love with something lesser, like “not-love,” which is changeable, unreliable, and easily influenced by external factors.

As for the phrase “bends with the remover to remove,” it further reinforces this idea. The poet argues that true love doesn’t bend or break, even when someone tries to “remove” or end it. In other words, when affection or commitment is tested by adversity or difficulties, real love doesn’t fade or disappear. Instead, it endures, unshaken by external forces that might otherwise destroy a weaker form of love.

Second Quatrain (Lines 5-8)

In the second quatrain, Shakespeare shifts from describing what love isn’t to defining what true love is. He uses nautical imagery to illustrate love’s steadfastness. Line 5 begins with a dramatic “O no!” to emphasize this transition from a negative to a positive definition of love. The poet then declares that love is an “ever-fixed mark,” meaning it is something that never moves or changes, much like a lighthouse. In line 6, Shakespeare elaborates by saying that love can withstand life’s storms (“tempests”) without being shaken or disturbed.

In lines 7 and 8, Shakespeare compares this “ever-fixed mark” (true love) to the North Star, which, before modern navigation tools, was used by sailors to find their way. The North Star never changes its position in the sky, making it a reliable guide for lost ships. Shakespeare uses this comparison to suggest that love, like the North Star, is a constant and reliable force.

He also mentions that while sailors could locate stars and use their “height” (position in the sky) to navigate, they didn’t fully understand their true nature or “worth.” This suggests that, like the stars, love can guide and support us, even if we don’t fully understand it. Love remains mysterious but incredibly important.

Third Quatrain (Lines 9-12)

In the third quatrain of Sonnet 116, Shakespeare introduces the figure of Time, which can be interpreted as both the passing of time and the inevitability of aging and death. He tells us that love is not Time’s “fool,” meaning that true love isn’t controlled or diminished by time, even though physical beauty (“rosy lips and cheeks”) may fade with age.

The “bending sickle” in line 10 refers to the scythe traditionally associated with the Grim Reaper, a symbol of death and the passing of time. Despite the inevitability of aging and death, love is not affected by Time’s destructive power.

This quatrain sums up a central point of the poem: true love doesn’t change or fade with time. While time may be “brief” and fleeting, love remains constant and endures until “the edge of doom”—a metaphor for Judgment Day, the end of time, or the end of the world. This reinforces the idea that love is eternal, lasting beyond the limits of time itself.

Final Couplet 

In the final couplet of Sonnet 116, Shakespeare offers a bold and dramatic conclusion to his argument about love. In line 13, he challenges anyone to prove him wrong, using legalistic language that essentially says, “If what I’ve said about love is incorrect and someone can prove it, then…”

The twist comes in the final line, where he makes an extreme claim: if he is wrong, then he has never written anything, and no one has ever truly loved. This statement is paradoxical, because we know that the poet has written — we’re reading his poem, after all. Similarly, we know that people have experienced love. By making these claims, Shakespeare ensures that his argument about the eternal nature of love becomes impossible to refute. The logic works in a clever, circular way: if love isn’t eternal, then his entire poem and the concept of love itself would be invalid, which we know is not true. Therefore, the truth of his statements about love becomes undeniable.