Let me not to the marriage of true mind, by William
Shakespeare
A blog exposition by
Alan Ewing
Firstly, Sonnet 116 itself, a slow absorbtion of the words, followed by a second reading, then read my paragraphs below, then returning to the Sonnet, as the rhythm of the language flows as you get used to it:
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 prov'd,
I never writ, nor no
man ever lov'd.
Outside of the Bible then Shakespeare is the ultimate writer about the sheer nature of love. In Shakespear this is romantic love, whereas The New Testament deals primiarily with general love. Sonnet 116 is about the stability of true love. A marriage indeed. One in which the lovers can face every trial that life may bring, every test that fate might throw into their path. Love does not change in the face of such change, else it is not true love. Love is like a fixed star that is immovable.
Time cannot affect love if it is true. For it grows within time. Shakespeare is telling us that fickle fancies will also not interfere with the course of true love. When it is entwined then it is rooted in such a way as to be the foundation stone of life itself. Companionship, friendship and loyalty are enshrined within it, through good times and bad. Love can conquer every hardship, even when all seems lost, and is the most powerful force that we ever encounter in our lives, when it is true. If not, says Shakespeare, then he, The Bard, was never a writer.
