In Sonnet 116, the speaker uses metaphors to compare Love to
an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken. (lines 5–8)
In other words, Love is constant and unwavering, despite how lost one might feel or how far one may travel. Love is consistent, its movements predictable like a star's. Neither can it be destroyed nor changed by the most violent of storms. This idea presents another metaphor, that of troubles or challenges in a relationship to physical, weather-related storms, or "tempests."
In Sonnet 130, the speaker makes fun of the typical comparisons used by lovers to describe their ladies. It is not unusual for a lover to flatter the woman in which he takes an interest, and the speaker takes this practice to task because it does a disservice to real love. So, the poem begins with a kind of reverse simile , where the speaker emphasizes the humanity of his lover by stating that her...
(The entire section contains 2 answers and 626 words.)
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