Meaning

Shakespeare is defining love here by what it does not do. True love, in his view, is not something that shifts when circumstances shift or withdraws when the other person changes or moves away. The essence of the argument is that love worthy of the name is fixed and constant, something that holds its shape under pressure rather than bending to match whatever is convenient. It is less a description of a feeling and more a declaration of what genuine commitment actually requires.

Context

This passage comes from Sonnet 116, part of Shakespeare's famous sequence of 154 sonnets. The sonnet as a whole is one of his most frequently quoted and widely recognized, building its argument carefully around what love is not before affirming what it is. The sequence was published in 1609, though many of the sonnets are believed to have been composed years earlier. Sonnet 116 in particular has become a standard reading at weddings and other celebrations of lasting commitment.

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and widely considered the greatest writer in the English language. Over the course of his career he produced roughly thirty-seven plays and a substantial body of poetry, including the sonnet sequence. He worked primarily in London as a playwright and part-owner of the Globe Theatre. His works have been continuously performed, translated, and studied for more than four centuries, and his influence on literature and language remains without parallel.