Sonnets 18 and 116 are two of Shakespeare’s most quotable love poems. If you’re a fan of weddings, baths filled with rose petals, or Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility, you’ll probably recognize the lines “Should I compare you to a summer’s day?” and “Love is not love / That is altered when it finds alteration”. However, the problem with quotes is that they lack context. Let’s do a quick line-by-line review of sonnets 116 and 18. You may be surprised to find that one of these so-called “love” poems doesn’t look much like the other.
sonnet 116
Don’t leave me to the marriage of true minds
Admitted impediments.
This is the Shakespearean equivalent of saying “Mama is the word” to the old “Speak now or be silent forever” of the marriage ceremony. In fact, Shakespeare will not even admit the word “impediments” to the line that talks about marriage. Love: 1; Impediments: 0.
… love is not love
that is altered when it finds alteration,
Or bend with the remover to remove:
In other words, he’s not one to spout that “you’ve changed” nonsense.
Oh no! it is an always fixed mark
who looks at the storms and never trembles;
psh, storms
It is the star of each wandering bark,
Whose value is unknown, even if its height is taken.
The star of all wandering barks? That would have to be the North Star, which never seems to move from its place in the Northern Hemisphere. The reason its “value is unknown” is because Europeans didn’t know much about the stars in Shakespeare’s time, and they were still bitter about the roundness of the Earth and all.
Love is not the fool of time, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within the compass of his bent sickle come:
Love: 2; Pink Lips and Cheeks: 0. On a side note, he reminds that this is Shakespeare, which means that anything a 12-year-old might interpret as dirty probably is. Feel free to laugh, therefore, at the image of the “bent” sickle from Old Father Time.
Love is not disturbed by its brief hours and weeks,
But he confirms it even on the verge of perdition.
Love: 3; Edge of Doom: large chicken egg. If love could talk, it would be saying “booya” right now.
If this is error and on me tested,
I never wrote, nor did any man ever love.
Shakespeare just swore an oath on his own poetry? They are fighting words. If he’s not sure why, it will all make sense by the time we get to Sonnet 18.
Like Sonnet 116, Sonnet 18 ranks high on Sappy Poetry lists…usually by people looking for explicit rather than implicit meaning. If you’ve ever considered including a reading from Sonnet 18 at your anniversary party, the last three lines will probably change your mind. (if you are a In fact careful reader, the first two will do the trick.) Let’s start at the top.
sonnet 18
Shall I compare you to a summer day?
You are more beautiful and warmer:
Aww so sweet! We thought… Definitely, we’re going to read it again – out loud. Remember to stress every second syllable, like this:
shall Yo comstops He and to TO additionfrom sea day?
You art further lovelily and further timebyate:
AHA! Notice how “I” is emphasized but not “you” and “you”? furtive. Let’s continue.
Harsh winds shake the dear blossoms of May,
And the summer lease is too short dated:
I can’t argue with that.
Sometime too hot the sky’s eye shines,
And often his golden complexion darkens;
And every fair fair at some point declines,
By chance, or the changing course of untrimmed nature;
Yes, yes, we get it: everything in nature fades away. Go back to that person “you”.
But your eternal summer won’t fade
Wow! And the “you” is emphasized! We knew Shakespeare would come along eventually!
Don’t lose possession of that beautiful you ow’st,
We like where this is going.
Not even death will boast that you wander in its shadow,
Well well. Keep coming!
when in eternal lines to time you grow;
Uh oh, we have ourselves a parole. So let’s get this straight: all that stuff about the business of not fading, ugly, or dying depending on growing on eternal lines in time? And what does that mean? And please don’t tell us that it has anything to do with the fact that sonnets 1-17 are also known as the “procreation sonnets.” If Shakespeare is saying that the best way to bottle all that good looks is by creating genetic bloodlines, we’ll go ahead and turn down that second date.
As long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
Another conditional?!? Okay, okay: “as long as men can breathe or eyes can see” is actually a decent amount of time, so we’ll let it slide.
So live this, and this gives you life.
At last! – an emphasized “you”! But hold the phone: thatIs he giving you life? some nameless “this”?? Is Shakespeare referring to those timeless verses? To give him some credit, he probably knows enough about grammar to use the pronoun “these” when he talks about something in the plural. Dare we ask… if “this” is the sonnet itself? Could Shakespeare be suggesting that appearing in his work immortalizes you? Are those eternal verses the verses of the sonnet itself? Is the final you emphasized just because it is the end result of Shakespeare’s amazing and immortalizing poetic skills?
Probably. After all, being Shakespeare is like being an Elizabethan rock star: you can intimidate roadies, sleep with groupies, trash hotel rooms, and still be the world’s favorite. And let’s be real: if you went down in history as Tea Bard, you’d probably like to use your own poetry, too.
