What is love? “ Sonnet 116 ” by William Shakespeare seeks to state the reader precisely what it is. Or better yet, what it is non. Love is non merely word, but more of a religious feeling. It can non be changed once it is set in gesture. This verse form reminds the reader of the true importance of love. Shakespeare clearly portrays that love is one of the strongest things that exist today because it can non be altered.

Love has been known to hold many different significances. The first definition on dictionary.com provinces that love is a deeply stamp, passionate fondness for another individual. Shakspere seems to believe that love is somewhat more of import than merely a feeling. “ Whose deserving unknown, although his tallness be taken ” ( 8 ) is a clear illustration of merely that. Love can non be measured or calculated. There is much symbolism involved with this verse form. When the verse form speaks of a star, it is speaking about the North Star. This star has been used for decennaries as the star that leads going roamers. While the distance of the star can be calculated by scientific discipline and many types of measurings, its value can ne’er be set. This is straight associating to love, because much like the star, love can non hold a set value.

Love has been known to besides be a religious emotion. As Lukas provinces in his article Theological Implications in Sonnet 116, “ God-given love is besides suggested by the spiritual context within which the sonnet is placed. ” ( 295 ) .The first lines of the poem start off speaking about the “ matrimony of true heads ” ( 1 ) . This is evidently talking of a spiritual ceremonial. Shakespeare is utilizing this transition to convey across the point that human love is something that goes beyond words. It goes into a whole different kingdom of feeling and emotion.

This sonnet is merely a perfect illustration of the enormousness of love. “ Love is non love which alters, when it alteration discoveries ” ( 2 ) shows this at its nucleus. Nothing can flex or alter love in any manner. Although some people believe in falling out of love, it is non something that I feel can be done. Bing in love is something so sincere, so perfect and imperfect at the same clip. Thingss come along in life that try to take the importance of love off from us, but Shakespeare was seeking to portray the simple fact that this can non be done. When love is true, when it is existent and deep, it can non be altered. Shakespeare uses similes a batch throughout this sonnet to demo this fact. “ Love ‘s non clip ‘s sap ” ( 12 ) is an illustration of this. Love is non, and can ne’er be, at the clemency of clip. When in love, you can experience as if a 2nd is really yearss and months, because being with the one you love is as if you were standing still in clip. It feels as if the universe is traveling around you, but the lone thing that affairs is your love. This may look corny to many people, but to those who have felt love, it is the most astonishing thing that exists. This is what Shakespeare was seeking to portray. Love is something that is so great and powerful, that it can non be measured.

So many things in life are taken from us daily. Material things semen and travel from one twenty-four hours to the following. With this sonnet, Shakespeare tries to demo that the lone changeless thing in life, the lone thing that can non be taken from us, is love. He calls it an “ of all time fixed grade that looks on storms and is ne’er shaken. ” This is true about love. Once love has set itself into the psyche, it will non be moved. Love laughs in the face of anything that opposes it. If for some ground “ love ” is taken, so it was ne’er at that place to get down with. It was false. There are wars all around the universe. Peoples contending to maintain what is genuinely at that place. Would you state that love is one of those things? I believe that Shakespeare would. There is a changeless war against love. There will ever be something in the manner of happening that true felicity. Love “ bears it out even to the border of day of reckoning ” ( 12 ) . Here Shakespeare is stating that it does non count what may come in this life. It does non count what obstacles traverse our waies when true love is present, because it can non be taken from us. So many material things in this life come and travel with clip. With clip, value besides fades. Love is non included in either of these statements. Love is non material, hence can non be taken from you as if by force. It besides has no value. It is non value-less in the sense that it is deserving nil. On the contrary, it has so much value that it can ne’er be measured in any manner. This sonnet Tells of all these things. Shakespeare is so certain of what he writes, that he ends his sonnet stating “ if this be mistake and upon me proved, I ne’er writ, nor no adult male of all time loved ” ( 14 ) . The assurance that he shows in his beliefs makes the statements that much stronger. If he is proven incorrect, he says he has ne’er truly written, and no adult male of all time truly loved. This proves that non merely did he believe it, but he must hold lived it every bit good. It seems impossible that a adult male, who spoke so articulately about love, and with such passion, could hold gone through life without experiencing the enormousness of it himself. Love is the greatest thing that exists today. Shakespeare knew it in his clip, and it is something really good known today. Throughout the centuries, it is one of the lone things that has remained a changeless in society and personal lives. It can non be altered, and if it was slightly altered, so it was ne’er true to get down with.