and welcome to Miss Hannah Love's grammar in this video we will be examining some of the principal themes that emerge about love from William Shakespeare's sonnet 116 firstly here are some key facts about the collection of sonnets this emerges from the sonnets as a whole were dedicated to a mystery wh whose identity has never been revealed William Herbert the Earl of Pembrook could be the man they were dedicated to after all Shakespeare dedicated his first folio to him in 1623 and he was a known benefactor to Shakespeare in a poetic frenzy Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets between 1592 and 1598 the majority of the sonnets he wrote sonets 1 to 126 are addressed to a man with whom the speaker has an intense romantic Rel relationship additionally though this poem highlights Shakespeare's refinement on the form first created by petrarch the sonnet for many Shakespeare's take on the sonnet is a parody of Petra here you see Shakespeare inverting conventional gender roles to create a more complex depiction of human love yet they both share some similarities both petrarch and Shakespeare write sonnets with simply 14 lines for Petra his sonit was broken into two clear sections the octave the first eight lines which offered the problem the speaker was trying to solve and the final six lines the sestet was the potential solution to the problem for Shakespeare he writes with three quatrains and a running couplet at the end to make up his 14 lines both poems have a point where the subject changes in Petra sonets this is usually line nine and called a VTA with Shakespeare it is simply called the turn so 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 oh no it is an ever fixed Mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken it is the star to every wandering bark whose worths unknown although his height be taken love is not times full though Rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickles comp has 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 WR nor no man ever loved the opening line of this poem Echoes marriage vs the marriage of true minds must be a metaphor for true love it is meant to seem ideal the use of the noun Minds heightens the fact that this Union is between thoughtful and reflective people rather than those chasing their changeable Passions the fact that admitting pediments does not even make it until the second line of this poem emphasizes the power we are meant to find from within the opening line sentiment it is interesting to note that the speaker moves on in line two to establishing love through what it is not the near repetition of alter from alteration in line three is profound it emphasiz the fickleness of love that changes when it finds fault this is further affirmed with the near repetition of remove and remover which has a similar meaning love does not change even if someone withdraws their affection or is gone true love lasts the tone moves from lines four to five from negative to positive we move on to what the poet sees love to be now that we've consider considered what it isn't ever fixed is situated in the central location within the layout of this poem which resonates the idea that love is constant and at the heart of this poem the violent imagery in line six of tempests that do not shake the foundations of this love are affirming that love defies the odds the phrase never Shak amplifies the idea that the heart of this relationship is constant by affection by line seven it is clear that the ever fixed Mark is not just a star but also the North Star it is clear this is the case as this star never changes position in the sky this links back to navigational knowledge that Sailors would have used at the time Shakespeare was writing to find out where they were the North Star was a way of beginning to track where you were and maybe how to get home additionally these mysterious ideas about astrology are emphasized further through the phrase whose worth is unknown at the time Shakespeare was writing stars were mysterious and no one knew the scientific facts behind them line n remains a turning point in this poem love is not times full the capitalization of the noun time is significant as it strengthens the idea that time is demanding to take youth as illustrated by The Rosy Cheeks and eventual life the fact love is not a fool categorically makes love defiant against the constraints that time May have over it the bending sickle in line 10 is a stereotypical and somewhat cliched image associated with the Grim Reaper time here is a Powerhouse as Illustrated from the iteration of compass come by the end of this third quatrain it is Crystal Clear love does not change it will not alter it will not relent the emphasis on love in line 12 lasting to the edge of Doom stresses how much love will persist through be it to a judgment day or an apocalypse as the poem closes there is an air of excited almost confrontational um performance about its tone the clinical tone of line 13 if these wrong ideas are wrong and anyone can prove I am incorrect is a challenge for the reader and demands if we have proof If we deny the speaker sent sentiment the reader who seeks to challenge is pushed further by line 14 with an unusual kink in the speaker's argument a somewhat warped logic by affirming that the poet has never written anything and that no one has ever really been in love before if love turns out to be less than Eternal the poem's truth immediately becomes impossible to dispute fundamentally Sonet 116 is one of the most iconic poems of its type and of its time as it establishes love as Eternal and constant as well as ideal Shakespeare promotes a more intense commitment to love than Petro with this Sonet it is not simply infatuation but the exploration of Life To the End of Time