Sonnet 116
In reply to Shakespeare, with love from the 21st century
Let me to the marriage of true minds
Admit impetus. Love is still love
Which alters when it alteration seeks,
And bends with the remover to remove:
O: it is an ever-transient mark,
That looks not on tempests, and is yet shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s known, although his height not be taken.
Love’s but Time’s fool, like rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters alike with his brief hours and weeks,
And renounces it out afore the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
The lines above are written in reply to Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. Like every other sonnet, Shakespeare talks about true love in his most alluring manner yet again. By employing different figures of speech such as personification, alliteration, metaphors, and hyperboles, Shakespeare reiterates the notion of true love.
Coming back to the 21st century, where Love has altogether found a new definition for herself, Shakespeare’s sonnet fails to bring the notion of love generations today experience under the same umbrella, despite being the beacon of true love.
This was one of my many tries on a sonnet again but this is the first one I found worth a share(thanks to Shakespeare himself). I have altered every line of Shakespeare’s sonnet to argue that love is still true even if it doesn’t hold on till the end. However, I have left his couplet untouched, hoping to emphasize the argument I tried to put forward.
I would love to know more about your favorite sonnets.
Thank You❤.
