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-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering 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.
this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
Shakespeare
the shakespeare that wrote sonnets was a very different joseph fiennes to the one who wrote the plays. Whilst they plays are often a masterpiece in construction and a study in relationships the sonnets are much more introspective and esoteric. We see Shakespeare the philosopher, the one ready to muse about love and life and well, love. We see a tender heart and a longing soul, often not seen in the pragmatics of theatre-acting and writing.
I love this sonnet because it echoes an idea about love that i feel very strongly about. Love does not change. When you love someone, really love someone, it is not changed by appearances, nor time, nor distance. It conquers all, it is constant and true. I don't know, it does seem a bit too hopelessly romantic to fly in a modern environment, but i am a romantic at heart, and i like the idea of your one true love being just that.
For those austens fans well acquainted with the emma thompson, kate winslet, hugh grant and alan rickman sense and sensibility, shot with taste and grace by ang lee when he could barely speak a word of english (how many directors could take on a classic like austen like that?) uses this poem marvelously well. There is one poignant scene where kate winslet (marianne) is running up a hill to see her lost love's manor, 'oh no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken... willoughby!' she says despondently, regretfully.
the usage of the poem is ironic then, because marianne marries another. does that mean she loves him any less than she did willougby? was i the burning passion of youth, inexperienced and naive, that made her feel that way? or was it her true love?
food for thought indeed.
X
i'm in paris now.... WOOHOO!!!!!
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