True Love by William
Shakespeare
Analysis
Shakespeare is talking about love and
lovers. There are many wrong ideas about love. People call love as blind. But
love is not a person. It has no eyes. It is only a feeling. So feelings can’t
be blind. Problems come into the life of lovers. But if they face them bravely,
they would be solved. There should be understanding between the lovers. If they
truly understand each other’s heart and mind, their lives would be happy. Such
ideas are conveyed through this poem.
In the opening of the sonnet, the poet
tells that there is no hindrance in the marriage of the true souls. When
mistakes arise and we find alteration, it is not love. It is in the sense that
feeling should not be changed in any condition.
In the next stanza the poet tells us
that love is like ever - fixed mark. It is really beautiful image. It means
that love is permanent. Love can’t be easily removed by the time. It is
eternal. In the sea, the fixed mark shows the direction to the ship. Like that
way love gives and guides in the proper direction in the life. Once again the
poet brings imagination of ‘star’. Star always shines in the sky. Same way love
is shining. Star shows the position of wondering bark in the sea and love has
eternal shining and guiding. the life always needs such star.
The poet is not yet happy only saying
this. He becomes emotional. He applies his all power to bring effect. He makes
love heightened. Its value is unknown. From the birth to death in our life we
need love. Life has a great span. A time is a great destroyer. It destroys us
by his cruel saw but time can’t keep its lustrous eyes on love. Love remains
eternal. For life, the poet uses some direct words like “rosy lips and cheeks”.
Love does not alter in the course of
time. It stays with us to the dooms day. For that the poet uses the words “The
edge of doom”. Thus, love is one of the elemental sources of life. The last two
lines are marvelous. It has deep effect on what have been said earlier. The
poet tells that if love is error and it is proved, he will never write any poem
or none will even love. But this is not so. The cycle goes on and on.
Figures of speech: They are the ornaments of the
poem. The poet has used metaphors, personifications and images. Love is a
feeling. It is not an object that can be removed or bent. But the poet made it
a concrete form and then he argued for it. Human form is given to the star so
it is a personification. The star is looking upon the world. It is guiding.
Love is not a fool person. Love has rosy lips and cheeks so these figures make
meaning and feeling intensive. Through these devices the poet is trying to
create a mental picture. We are led to see as the poet wishes. Through ‘fixed
star’ and ‘rosy lips and cheeks’ a visual image has been created.
