Love is not love: in Shakespeare’s sonnet 18, anyway

Sonnets 18 and 116 are two of Shakespeare’s most quotable love poems. If you are a fan of weddings, the bathrooms filled with rose petals or Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility, you will probably recognize the lines “Will I compare you to a summer day?” and “Love is not love / That is altered when it finds alteration”. However, the problem with quotes is that they lack context. Let’s take a quick line-by-line review of Sonnets 116 and 18. You may be surprised to find that one of these so-called “love” poems doesn’t look much like the other.

Sonnet 116

Don’t leave me to the marriage of true minds

Admitted impediments.

This is the Shakespearean equivalent of saying “Mommy is the word” to the old “Speak now or shut up forever” part of the marriage ceremony. In fact, Shakespeare won’t even admit the word “impediments” to the line that speaks of marriage. Love: 1; Impairments: 0.

… love is not love

That alters when it finds alteration,

Or fold with the remover to remove:

In other words, he’s not one to do any of this “you’ve changed” crap.

Oh no! it is a brand always fixed

Who looks at the storms and is never moved;

Psh, storms.

It is the star of each magic wand bark,

Whose value is unknown, although its height is taken.

The star of every wand bark? That would have to be the North Star, which never seems to move from its place in the northern hemisphere. The reason their “value is unknown” is because Europeans didn’t know much about stars in Shakespeare’s day, with the fact that they were still bitter about the roundness of the Earth and all that.

Love is no time fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Inside the compass of your folding sickle come:

Love: 2; Pink lips and cheeks: 0. On a side note, remember that this is Shakespeare, which means that anything a 12-year-old might interpret as dirty probably is. Feel free to laugh, therefore, at Old Father Time’s image of the sickle “bending”.

Love does not alter with its brief hours and weeks,

But it confirms it even to the brink of doom.

Love: 3; Edge of Doom: chicken egg. If love could speak, it would be saying “booya” right now.

If this is a mistake and on me it is proven,

I never wrote, nor did any man ever love.

Did Shakespeare just take an oath on his own poetry? Those fighting words. If you’re not sure why, it will all make sense when we get to Sonnet 18.

Like Sonnet 116, Sonnet 18 ranks high on Sappy Poetry charts … usually by people looking for explicit rather than implicit meaning. If you’ve ever considered including a Sonnet 18 reading at your anniversary party, the last three lines are likely to change your mind. (If you are a Really Attentive reader, the first two will do the trick). Lets start by the beginning.

Sonnet 18

Will I compare you to a summer day?

You are more beautiful and warmer:

Aww so sweet! We thought … Without a doubt, let’s read it again, aloud. Remember to emphasize every second syllable, like this:

Shall I compair The e to to summer day?

Your Art more lovely Y more hourforate:

Ah ha! Notice how “I” is emphasized but not “you” and “you”? Furtive. Let’s continue.

Strong winds shake the dear May buds,

And the summer lease is too short a date:

I can’t argue with that.

At some point too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And her golden complexion is often toned down;

And every fair of the fair at some point declines,

By chance, or the changing course of nature untrimmed;

Yes, yes, we understand, everything in nature vanishes. Get back to that person “you” now.

But your eternal summer won’t fade

Woof! And the “you” is emphasized! We knew Shakespeare would arrive eventually!

Nor will you lose the possession of the beautiful one you have,

We like where this is going.

Nor will death boast that you wander in its shadow,

Well well. Keep coming back!

When in eternal lines until time you grow;

Oh oh, we have a conditional. So, let’s get this straight: does the whole business of not fading, turning ugly, or dying depend on growing up on some eternal lines in time? And what does that mean? And please don’t tell us it has something to do with the fact that Sonnets 1-17 are also known as the “sonnets of procreation.” If Shakespeare says that the best way to suppress all that appeal is by creating genetic bloodlines, let’s go ahead and reject that second date.

As long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

Another conditional? Okay, okay: “as long as men can breathe or eyes can see” is actually a decent amount of time, so we’ll let it pass.

Live this, and this gives you life.

In the end! – an emphasized “you”! But hold up the phone: whatis giving you life? Some nameless “this”?? Is Shakespeare referring to those timeless lines? To give you some credit, you probably know enough about grammar to use the pronoun “these” when talking about something in the plural. Dare we ask … if “this” is the sonnet itself? Could Shakespeare be suggesting that appearing in his play immortalizes you? Are those timeless verses the verses of the sonnet itself? Is the final self emphasized just because it is the end result of Shakespeare’s astonishing and timeless poetry skills?

Probably. After all, being Shakespeare is like being an Elizabethan rock star – you can bully roadies, sleep with groupies, trash hotel rooms, and still be the world’s favorite. And let’s face it: if you went down in history as Tea Bard would probably also swear by his own poetry.