Uploaded November 2015 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a virtual movie of the great William Shakespeare reading his sonnet 116 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds". You can see the amazing 78rpm Shellac record circa 1932 of John Gielgud reading this wonderful sonnet here at this link...
youtube.com/watch?v=Wrj3rilcTnk
Shakespeare's sonnet 116 was first published in 1609. Its structure and form are a typical example of the Shakespearean sonnet.
The poet begins by stating he should not stand in the way of "the marriage of true minds", and that love cannot be true if it changes for any reason; true love should be constant, through any difficulties. In the seventh line, the poet makes a nautical reference, alluding to love being much like the north star is to sailors. Love also should not fade with time; instead, true love is, as is the polar star, "ever-fixèd" and lasts forever.
Sonnet 116 is one of Shakespeare's most famous love sonnets, but some scholars have argued the theme has been misunderstood. Hilton Landry believes the appreciation of 116 as a celebration of true love is mistaken,[3] in part because its context in the sequence of adjacent sonnets is not properly considered. Landry acknowledges the sonnet "has the grandeur of generality or a 'universal significance'," but cautions that "however timeless and universal its implications may be, we must never forget that Sonnet 116 has a restricted or particular range of meaning simply because it does not stand alone."[4] Carol Thomas Neely writes that, "Sonnet 116 is part of a sequence which is separate from all the other sonnets of Shakespeare because of their sense of detachment. They aren’t about the action of love and the object of that love is removed in this sequence which consists of Sonnets 94, 116, and 129".[5] This group of three sonnets does not fit the mold of the rest of Shakespeare’s sonnets, therefore, and they defy the typical concept and give a different perspective of what love is and how it is portrayed or experienced. "Though 116 resolves no issues, the poet in this part of the sequence acknowledges and accepts the fallibility of his love more fully than he could acknowledge that of the young man’s earlier".[6] Other critics of Sonnet 116[7] have argued that one cannot rely on the context of the sonnet to understand its tone. They argue that since "there is no indisputably authoritative sequence to them, we cannot make use of context as positive evidence for one kind of tone or another."[8] Shakespeare does not attempt to come to any significant conclusion within this particular sonnet because no resolution is needed.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
Here's a virtual movie of the great William Shakespeare reading his sonnet 116 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds". You can see the amazing 78rpm Shellac record circa 1932 of John Gielgud reading this wonderful sonnet here at this link...
youtube.com/watch?v=Wrj3rilcTnk
Shakespeare's sonnet 116 was first published in 1609. Its structure and form are a typical example of the Shakespearean sonnet.
The poet begins by stating he should not stand in the way of "the marriage of true minds", and that love cannot be true if it changes for any reason; true love should be constant, through any difficulties. In the seventh line, the poet makes a nautical reference, alluding to love being much like the north star is to sailors. Love also should not fade with time; instead, true love is, as is the polar star, "ever-fixèd" and lasts forever.
Sonnet 116 is one of Shakespeare's most famous love sonnets, but some scholars have argued the theme has been misunderstood. Hilton Landry believes the appreciation of 116 as a celebration of true love is mistaken,[3] in part because its context in the sequence of adjacent sonnets is not properly considered. Landry acknowledges the sonnet "has the grandeur of generality or a 'universal significance'," but cautions that "however timeless and universal its implications may be, we must never forget that Sonnet 116 has a restricted or particular range of meaning simply because it does not stand alone."[4] Carol Thomas Neely writes that, "Sonnet 116 is part of a sequence which is separate from all the other sonnets of Shakespeare because of their sense of detachment. They aren’t about the action of love and the object of that love is removed in this sequence which consists of Sonnets 94, 116, and 129".[5] This group of three sonnets does not fit the mold of the rest of Shakespeare’s sonnets, therefore, and they defy the typical concept and give a different perspective of what love is and how it is portrayed or experienced. "Though 116 resolves no issues, the poet in this part of the sequence acknowledges and accepts the fallibility of his love more fully than he could acknowledge that of the young man’s earlier".[6] Other critics of Sonnet 116[7] have argued that one cannot rely on the context of the sonnet to understand its tone. They argue that since "there is no indisputably authoritative sequence to them, we cannot make use of context as positive evidence for one kind of tone or another."[8] Shakespeare does not attempt to come to any significant conclusion within this particular sonnet because no resolution is needed.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2015
