Shakespeare: Sonnet 116

Sonnet 116 defines true love as 'an ever-fixed mark' that remains unshaken even in the face of storms and does not alter with time or changing circumstances. The poem argues that if love proves mutable, then it was never genuine love at all.

Sonnet 116 was first published in 1609 as part of Shakespeare's collected sequence of 154 sonnets, released by the publisher Thomas Thorpe in what is commonly called the '1609 Quarto.' Scholars still debate whether Shakespeare authorized this publication.

Its idealized declaration that 'Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom' resonates powerfully with the vows of enduring commitment central to marriage ceremonies. The poem's clear, confident language makes it one of the most popular literary selections for weddings.

Sonnet 116 follows the standard Shakespearean sonnet form: 14 lines in iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. Three quatrains develop the argument about love's constancy, followed by a closing rhyming couplet in which the speaker stakes his own poetic credibility on the truth of what he has written.