Shakespeare Sonnet One Hundred Sixteen

This sonnet focuses on the meaning of love. In the first quatrain Shakespeare says that love is not love in other people's minds. That what is called love is not true love in most cases, some people just say love when it isn't true.

Shakespeare compares a lost ship to this sonnet. A ship is strong, and Shakespeare says that it will stand firm even when it's love has been unfaithful. That even if a ship is lost, that love is the star that guides it home on its way.

In the third quatrain, the word "Time" is personified when it says that "Love is not Time's fool," (Shakespeare 8) meaning that even if time runs out, love will not. Love is endless and never changing. Love, even when lost will guide its way back.

The couplet finishes off saying that until it is proven, not all love will be true love, and not all men have loved.