Sonnet 116

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 wandering 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 proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
 
- William Shakespeare

     I think the poet has a strong belief in love. He believes that love should be stable. The poem is saying that love is always an everlasting one and people should not be taken lightly. If it’s not an everlasting one and is replaceable, it isn’t a true one. The poet sounds positive yet desperate. This poem also has a rhyme scheme of abab, cdcd, etc. The words are so appealing that they made me easier to understand. The figurative language here is alliteration. The first part has many repeating letters and sounds in a series of words. I kind of like it because what it’s talking about is sort of far from reality, thus making me feel like I’m in a dream like state. 

Sonnet XIV

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'--
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,--
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.
 
-Elisabeth Barret Browning


     I think she means that there shouldn’t be specific reasons to be loved for, such as for someone’s smile or his or her look. She said she wants to be loved for love’s sake only. Those other reasons are changeable and not trustable. She also said that she wants to be loved for love’s sake only because, that way, love will go on forever and will be the only love that survives. She sounds so sincere as she describes her point. And her point is that she wants to be loved only for love’s sake and nothing else; it seems like she has very strong opinions. I think she used an idiom for her figurative language. At the end of each sentence, she adds more adjectives; they’re like grammatically confusing sentences.

Sonnet 18

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'--
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,--
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.
 
-William Shakespeare

    I think this poem’s purpose is to show how he thinks of something/someone. The poet, William Shakespeare, compared someone he loved to many things, such as seasons and different kinds of weather, also using many descriptive words. He seems like he’s stuck on only one idea and so he digs deeper into that topic. Because he described the person in a very great detail, it was easier for me to understand his purpose. I think this poem is an example of a metaphor, because he made many comparisons and made us picture what he was trying to say. I like it because it has a pretty great sense of flow, but it was a bit challenging because every line had its own meaning and the entire poem was tricky and a little difficult to follow along.


Sonnet XXVI

If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
'I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'--
For these things in themselves, Beloved, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,--
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's eternity.
 -Edna St Vincent Millay

    I think the author wants to say about her love and what she’s dealing with. She describes her love in a very strong way, saying that she’s the only one loving fearlessly. No matter what, she tries to survive and still love that person when she’s all alone. I think this means that it’s an unrequited love. It has a rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, etc. I think this is an example of a metaphor, again. It uses comparison to describe how she feels and what she wants to relate to. I think the poem is just okay. It’s not something I can relate to or interesting. This was quite challenging because it uses different styles of words that I’ve never heard of. 




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