Sonnet CXVI - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Sonnet CXVI

“Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds”

(1609)

William Shakespeare Slide2

Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds

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. 

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 ladistanza.

Amore non e' soggetto al Tempo, pur se rosee labbra e gote dovran cadere sotto la sua curva lama; Amore non muta in poche ore o settimane,ma impavido resiste al giorno estremo del giudizio.

se questo e' errore e mi sarà provato,I

io non ho mai scritto, e nessuno ha mai amato

. Slide3

Speaking

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 ggGUIDED ANALYSISFocus on the structureWhat 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

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.Slide4

Focus on the content

.

Shakespeare’s definition of love, or “marriage of true minds” is expressed through both negative and positive statements. List them. POSITIVE STATEMENTSIt is an ever-fixed mark (l.5)It is the star ... bark (l.7)But bears it out ... Doom (l.12) NEGATIVE STATEMENTS Love is not love (l.2)

Love’s not Time’s fool (l. 9)

Love alters not (l.11)Do these statements occur separately in distinct sections of the sonnet or are they used together throughout the sonnet indifferently?

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).

They are used throughout the sonnet. Slide5

In the end, negative definitions prevail. What do you think this may mean? Choose among:

disillusion with love

negation of true lovea moment of dejection (= sadness/depression)difficulty of giving a positive definition of true loveGUIDED SUMMARYFill in the blanks using the words given belowshake 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.

The difficulty of giving a positive definition of true love may arise from the sense of disillusion with love which emerges from the sonnet.