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Paraphrase
Let me not talk badly of well-matched relationships.
Love is not true
if it changes with time or circumstance:
O, no! It is permanent,
Always braving the storm;
It is like the North star to lost ships,
Priceless, yet recognizable.
Love does not adhere to time, although young lovers
grow old and approach death;
Love does not change with hours or weeks,
But rather endures to the end of time.
If you prove me wrong,
Then I have never written anything, and no man has
ever truly loved.

Meaning and Purpose

In this sonnet, Shakespeare discusses love and what it is through paradox. More specifically, he is discussing true love. In his portrayal of
true love he discusses how strong love is and how long it lasts. For example Love is not love/ which alters when alteration finds (2-3).
Meaning that love is fixed, everlasting, it does not change...ever. Love is the same through all of time. When love is approached with an
opportunity to sway, sweep, or distort itself, love does not take this opportunity and stays the same. In this this instance, Shakespeare
personifies love to show loves validity and consistency. Love is the same forever, strong and unwavering.
Shakespeare also discusses the timespan of love. This may be noted by Loves not Times fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (14), or
"Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks/But bears it even to the edge of doom (11-12). Shakespeare is saying that when the
beauty of a lovers rosy lips and cheeks disappear, love does not it is eternal. Even to a persons last withering hours, where there is
nothing, there is still love. Note how Shakespeare says with his brief hours and weeks(14) Shakespeare again, personifies love to say it
is a living breathing creature.
The entirety of the sonnet is a paradox, at first glance the sonnet may not make sense because of the line love is not love (2). But,
Shakespeare depicts that if one looks at love and sees anyone of these things it is not love. Love is does not have a finite set of time to
last, love does not bend and wane with time.
In conclusion Shakespeare personifies love to portray that is an entity that is sturdy that does not have a finite set of time labeled on its
back. If love were a person, he/she would be consistent, strong, and immortal. If ones love is not this exact description,mentioned. It is
not love.

Poetic Devices
Personification
Throughout the sonnet, Shakespeare personifies love. He does so by giving love, an abstract
construct, the ability to physically bend, look, and become a fool. By giving love human
characteristics, Shakespeare portrays love as a sentient, breathing entity that exists in the beauty of
nature.
Words with Nature Connotations
Shakespeares reliance on words that are reminiscent of nature relates closely to his use of
personification. Various words evoke images of nature, such as tempests, star, bark, sickle, and
compass. Although some of these words, like bark and sickle, are used in ways that mean something
other than their nature-based meanings, they still evoke that same feeling. This connects to
Shakespeares use of personification, portraying love as a living and breathing being, similar to an
object in nature like a star or a storm. Natural objects like stars and storms are living, just like
humans. Therefore, the inclusion of these words add to Shakespeares use of personification.