Quiz

Sonnet 116

William Shakespeare

1. 1. What is the primary argument Shakespeare makes in Sonnet 116?

   True love is passionate but inevitably fades with timeTrue love is constant and cannot be altered by time or circumstanceLove is strongest when both partners remain physically beautifulLove must be tested by hardship before it can be considered real

2. 2. What poetic form is 'Sonnet 116'?

   Petrarchan sonnet with an octave and sestetSpenserian sonnet with interlocking rhymesShakespearean sonnet with three quatrains and a coupletVillanelle with two repeating refrains

3. 3. In the line 'It is the star to every wandering bark,' what does 'bark' most likely refer to?

   The rough outer shell of a treeA ship navigating uncertain watersThe howling sound of a stormA dog's cry in the night

4. 4. What is the primary effect of the imagery of the 'ever-fixed mark' and the navigational star?

   It suggests that love, like stars, is distant and ultimately unreachableIt portrays love as a reliable, unchanging guide amid life's uncertaintiesIt implies that love is cold and impersonal, like celestial bodiesIt argues that sailors are the truest examples of devoted lovers

5. 5. How does Shakespeare personify Time in the poem?

   As a gentle river that slowly erodes all thingsAs a blind judge who punishes the unfaithfulAs a reaper whose sickle threatens physical beautyAs a wandering traveler who loses his way

6. 6. What is the tone of the poem's concluding couplet?

   Melancholic, as the speaker concedes that love may failDefiant and confident, staking the speaker's reputation on his claimPleading, as the speaker begs his beloved to remain faithfulIronic, subtly undermining the sonnet's earlier assertions

7. 7. Which best describes the speaker's relationship to the poem's subject?

   An outside observer critiquing the loves of othersA scorned lover arguing that his own love was betrayedA philosopher-poet asserting a universal definition of loveA young man addressing a specific woman he wishes to marry

8. 8. The phrase 'Love's not Time's fool' most nearly means that love

   Does not make people act foolishly the way Time doesIs not subject to or diminished by the passage of timeCannot coexist with the wisdom that comes with ageIs unaware of how quickly human life passes

9. 9. Which literary technique is most prominently used in the opening two lines, 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments'?

   Allusion to the Anglican marriage ceremonyHyperbole exaggerating the difficulty of finding true loveApostrophe addressing an absent beloved directlySimile comparing love to a legal contract

10. 10. According to the poem, which of the following CAN alter or be affected by time?

    The height (altitude) of a guiding starThe constancy of love between true mindsThe ability of love to withstand tempestsThe worth or true value of a guiding star
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