and unchangeable. In a sense, what he is saying is that love is not love unless it remains unchanged by both time and adversity. The two final lines of the poem serve to solidify this theme in the reader's mind; "If this be error, and upon me prov'd, I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd (Shakespeare 343)." This line is especially effective because they are the words of Shakespeare, who wrote more about love than anything else. Shakespeare is really saying that if he is wrong about love, then he has written nothing at all, which is obviously not true!The second way in which these sonnets are similar is in the way they all contain a very strong love theme. In "Sonnet 116", this theme is expressed as a definition of love. Shakespeare defines love as something that is unchangeable. By saying that love is "an ever-fixed mark (Shakespeare 342)," he is saying that nothing can alter the course of love. It is, in a sense, beyond the control of even time! In the next sonnet, Shakespeare is again writing about the power of love. He describes how love overcomes the imperfections found in his mistress. She is no beauty it seems. "And in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks (Shakespeare 343)," is not a line that one would associate with someone who is well loved. Shakespeare uses this exact imagery to describe how love can overcome such flaws in a person. By using the line, "I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground (Shakespeare 343)," he is also saying that no human is perfect. Everyone has flaws, and it is love that conquers these imperfections. In the final poem, "Sonnet 138" two lovers are described as having lied to each other. He is old, and his lover seems to believe that he is, in fact, young. By saying "Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue (Shakespeare 343)," Shakespeare seems to say that the lover lies back to the woman so that she ca...
