McKay's Informal Research for Sonnet Analysis: Sonnet 116

By: Unknown on 6:23 AM

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Traditional Scholary Source-

            When reading this article about Sonnet 116 I learned that even though this written about love and it not changing in an ever-changing world the poem is really written in a mournful tone, is dominate by negatives, and has a real tired sense about it.  The scholars in this article really argue that even though Shakespeare is writing how time does not change love for love is not changing; the poet himself does not believe his own words. They come to this conclusion through looking at the sonnets written before Sonnet 116 and the personal history of William Shakespeare.

http://www.jstor.org.erl.lib.byu.edu/stable/27709024?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=Sonnet&searchText=116&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3DSonnet%2B116%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone&seq=3#page_scan_tab_contents

Informal Online Source-

I read the spark notes analysis for this poem and what it told me was that this poem is defining love and more particularly it is defining “romantic love.” Romantic love is something that never changes, never fades. It is something that is idealized. The analysis then goes on to say that the language is not known for its imagery or metaphoric range, but rather is extraordinary in that it frames a discussion of love in a very rhetorical structure. Personally, the imagery seems pretty intense to me and quite extensive, but I guess comparably different. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/shakesonnets/section7.rhtml

Media Source-

While searching for something that embodies this sonnet to me I came across this image (at the bottom) that I feel like really embodies the message of this sonnet for me. First, it seems that the color is an idealized format, like the perfect color of the setting sun, giving us this thought of a romantic love. But at the same time while the couple does seem content staring out into the distance we are stuck behind a window watching them. This makes me think that even though we see this type of love it is almost unattainable because we will always be stuck behind this window.

Social Source-

I actually went to my wife and decided to have a conversation with her about this sonnet. When she read it with me she immediately told me that while she enjoyed the sonnet and the message she does not completely identify with what Shakespeare is saying. Rather, she believes that love changes all the time, the people changes, circumstances change, everything changes. She said that when she had our baby and I became a father her love changed for me dramatically that it became something deeper and more developed. I can see where she is coming from but then I kind of think about what Shakespeare is saying, that love is love when it remains even with all the changes in life.