Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds

Sonnet CXVI
“Let Me Not to the Marriage of
True Minds”
(1609)
William Shakespeare
Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds
1.
2.
3.
4.
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.
5.
6.
7.
8.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be
taken.
Non sia mai ch'io all'unione di anime fedeli
Ponga impedimenti. Amore non e' Amore
se muta quando scopre un mutamento
O tende a svanire quando l'altro s'allontana.
Oh no! Amore e' un faro sempre fisso
Che sovrasta la tempesta e non vacilla mai;
E' la stella-guida di ogni sperduta barca,
Il cui valore e' sconosciuto, benché nota la
distanza.
9. Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks Amore non e' soggetto al Tempo, pur se rosee
labbra e gote
10. Within his bending sickle's compass come:
dovran cadere sotto la sua curva lama;
11. Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
Amore non muta in poche ore o settimane,
12. But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
ma impavido resiste al giorno estremo del
giudizio.
13. If this be error and upon me proved,
14. I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
se questo e' errore e mi sarà provato,I
io non ho mai scritto, e nessuno ha mai amato .
Speaking
1.
–
Before reading or listening to the sonnet say what its structure and rhyme
scheme should be, according to your knowledge.
It should be three quatrains and a final couplet rhyming
abab
cdcd
efef
gg
GUIDED ANALYSIS
1. Focus on the structure
a. What is the structure and the rhyme scheme of the sonnet?
– It consists of three quatrains and a final couplet. Its rhyme scheme is
abab
cdcd
efef
gg
b. Does it correspond to your predictions?
Yes, it does even if in the first and third stanzas we have an eye rhyme*
(see lines 2/4 in stanza 1; lines 10/12 in stanza 3 and lines 13/14 in the
final couplet).
* An eye rhyme, also called a visual rhyme or a sight rhyme, is a rhyme in
which two words are spelled similarly but pronounced differently and have
come into general use through "poetic license" also known as artistic
license. An example is the pair slaughter and laughter; although they look
similar, and should rhyme based on the visual aspect, when they are
spoken there is no rhyming quality.
–
2. Focus on the content.
a. Shakespeare’s definition of love, or “marriage of true minds” is
expressed through both negative and positive statements. List them.
b.
─
c.
•
•
•
•
NEGATIVE STATEMENTS
POSITIVE STATEMENTS
Love is not love (l.2)
Love’s not Time’s fool (l. 9)
Love alters not (l.11)
It is an ever-fixed mark (l.5)
It is the star ... Bark (l.7)
But bears it out ... Doom (l.12)
Do these statements occur separately in distinct sections of the
sonnet or are they used together throughout the sonnet indifferently?
They are used throughout the sonnet.
The definition of ideal love depends on two main ideas: constancy
and inconstancy. Make a list of the terms relating to each:
Constancy:
“ever-fixed” (l. 5); “never shaken” (l.6), “star” (l. 7).
Inconstancy:
“alters” (l. 3), “alteration” (l.3), “remover” (l. 4),
“remove” (l.4), “Time’s fool” (l. 9).
d.
In the end, negative definitions prevail. What do you think this may mean?
Choose among:
a. disillusion with love
b. Negation of true love
c. A moment of dejection
d. Difficulty of giving a positive definition of true love
The difficulty of giving a positive definition of true love may arise
from the sense of disillusion with love which emerges from the
sonnet.
GUIDED SUMMARY
3. Fill in the blanks using the words given below
shake
minds
person this
love end
time
mark
There should be no obstacle to the marriage of faithful minds. Love is
not love if it changes with time or if it fixes on another person. No, love
has to be a fixed mark, something that not even tempests can shake.
Love must be eternal and last to the end of time. If the poet is wrong
about this, then he never wrote a line of poetry.