Let's Start with a Good Read of the Sonnet (not me)
Original Text | Modern Text |
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-fixèd mark That looks on tempests and is never shaken; It is the star to every wand'ring 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. | I hope I may never acknowledge any reason why minds that truly love each other shouldn’t be joined together. Love isn’t really love if it changes when it sees the beloved change or if it disappears when the beloved leaves. Oh no, love is a constant and unchanging light that shines on storms without being shaken; it is the star that guides every wandering boat. And like a star, its value is beyond measure, though its height can be measured. Love is not under time’s power, though time has the power to destroy rosy lips and cheeks. Love does not alter with the passage of brief hours and weeks, but lasts until Doomsday. If I’m wrong about this and can be proven wrong, I never wrote, and no man ever loved. |
No Fear Shakespeare helped me out this week by providing this modern version to critique. BWAHAHAHA!
Does the Sonnet's Context Stand on it's Own?
In a nutshell, no. The modern translation proves this. The iambic pentameter and rhyme make the sonnet original. Take those away, it is a stack of cliche's to be read by a rip off of the Cookie Monster. Without the form, you could say the poem is no longer a challenge to understand, therefore becomes a bore to the reader. It is similar to the reason people love Jamba-Juice and In-In-Out: the secret menus. After putting in just enough effort to discover the secret menu, the buyer feels accomplished and important. Finding a good product is just icing on the cake. This is the same case in this and many of the sonnets: part of the beauty is the puzzle, finding meaning amid the rhythm and the rhyme.
Previous Experience
Of course, the rhythm and rhyme also play key roles in the full meaning of the poem. A good example of this is line five. For years I pronounced "fixèd" "fixed". This mistake lead me to not emphasize "mark". Without this emphasis, my mind settled on the word: "fixed" rather than "mark." Why is this important? Mark is the subject of the line and the sentence. Fixed is simply an adjective. I allowed my focus to slip from the described to the description. Thinking of fixed forced me to think of something static and predictable, quite the opposite view poets usually associate with love. After correcting myself, I thought more on the the word mark. Mark reminds me of Cupid's arrows, of a goal to focus on and reach for, of a perfection to be aimed at though possibly unachievable. It is clear that a shift in emphasis can destroy a sonnet. Think then what taking away the sonnet's signature rhythm and rhyme.
Something Personal
I found out that my wife and I are going to be parents in six months. Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to try something new this week.
My Cold Read Before I Knew I was a Father
Shakespeare sets the bar high for an emotion to qualify as love. How is one supposed to know if he is truly engaged in a joining of a true mind when the test takes an eternity to prove? I would say I love my wife, and look forward to loving her for an eternity. But according to Shakespeare's definition, I would not know I loved her until after time has proven so. I still believe I love my wife, and look forward to proving so every day, but according to Shakespeare I do not yet know I love her. Perhaps I am confused at what Shakespeare defines as love.
Shakespeare seems slightly arrogant to use his writing skills to help prove his point. I mean, what does his writing have to do with cosmic truth?
My Cold Read After I Knew I was a Father
I don't know the sex of our kid, and I don't know what he or she will look like, but I love the jelly bean. The reason lies beyond the fact that he or she carries my genes, that I had a hand in making him or her, or that he or she will represent me and my family line when I am gone. Since the moment I knew it existed, I knew I loved it. It is an invisible grip that I cannot explain. Therefore, I already know this feeling qualifies as love, in Shakespeare's definition, because it is not affected by looks, presence, or tempests.
The fact that Shakespeare proves his point using his craft at the end of the sonnet makes much more sense to me now. When I think of love, I think of all the things I do to express this love. This expression is displayed in the effort I put into my schooling and the dedication I put into my craft. The craft no longer seems an obsession that will distract from my family, but a means of showing my love for them. Therefore, to use his craft to prove that love is a "fixèd mark" only proves to me that Shakespeare was not good at writing about love because he loved writing, but because he loved others.
According to Konrad Kuipe
On my scholarly search this week, I found Konrad had similar views of the sonnet as I did, but he considered many more aspects of the text: "As in the logical-inference route from the intransitive reading suggested by Kerrigan, so too with the transitive route; the evidence for the falsification of the proposition that the poet is in error lies in the sonnets themselves, whose presence is manifest, and in the love of the poet for a man, also manifest in the sonnets themselves (including Sonnet 116). That being so, error in the articles of faith does not exist, nor can it be proved of the poet. Consequently, impediments to the marriage of true minds cannot be admitted. The argument is thus solipsistic because the evidence for the truth of the propositions of the sonnet is to be found in the sonnet itself."
Conclusions
1. Although Shakespeare symbolically married himself to his male inspiration though use of subtle irregularities in the grammar and language, the poem gives one of the best visuals of what love is and how to test for it.
2. After looking up what solipsistic means, I have found that the final lines in Sonnet 116 turn the sonnet into living proof of its own argument.
3. In light of conclusion number two, it is all the more clear that modernization (or manipulation) is heretical.
Works Cited
Kuiper, Konrad. "Shakespeare's SONNET 116." Explicator 64.1 (2005): 8-10. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 6 Feb. 2011.
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