Countless poems address the concept of love, with the written battle between positive love and negative love continuing to be fought today. It is not surprising that there are not, nor would we expect many future poets to write, many poems that juxtapose the positive and negative characteristics of love. Shakespeare, an unconventional poet, does just this in his Sonnet CXVI. Shakespeare's initial impression offers a seemingly positive view of love, although further investigation reveals that his intentions may have been completely the opposite. Its explicit details of an ideal love mask the implicit use of form and vocabulary to demonstrate that love is rarely as perfect as we would like it to be. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Shakespeare begins the sonnet imperfectly, perhaps as a way to foreshadow how he later intends to describe love. While traditional sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, the first line of Sonnet CXVI begins with two trochees, exemplified in "Let me not the marriage of true minds / Admit impediments" (lines 1-2). Ironically, this sentence "admits impediments" by opening with a formal contradiction. Since Shakespeare emphasizes the "marriage of true minds," he implies that only in an unblemished relationship can these impediments be renounced. His departure from iambic pentameter indicates obstacles to such perfection, evident even at the beginning. It's the first implication that love is never completely perfect. Deviations from the standard form used to emphasize the shortcomings of love occur further in the sonnet with the violation of traditional metrical usage. Despite his expected adherence to iambic pentameter in a sonnet, Shakespeare includes some lines that have eleven syllables rather than ten. These lines are intended to attract the reader's attention and underline the meaning. He compares love to a star "whose value is unknown, though its height be considered" (line 8). This gives rise to the idea that the value of love often goes unnoticed and is not revered as it should. Instead, people tend to measure its scope or magnitude superficially. It implies that although we desire unconditional love in our lives, we are often distracted by the restrictions we place on it. Shakespeare also breaks form when he compares love to time: “But confirms it even on the verge of ruin” (line 12). A hasty reading of the phrase could be interpreted as the idea that love stands strong in the midst of disaster and tragedy. A closer look, however, raises the question of why love cannot transcend destiny instead of simply meeting it at its limit. Shakespeare's purpose in his words may be to bring to light the idea that love is not as invincible as people would like it to be, that it can only last so far before weakening. Shakespeare also implies imperfection in his seemingly happy sonnet through the repeated use of negation. A superficial understanding of the general sonnet is that love is positively described as unchanging and enduring. Looking more closely at each description, however, we find that they may not be as positive as we initially thought due to the use of denial. He chooses his words to convey a sense of cynicism. For example, rather than simply saying something along the lines of "love is unchangeable," Shakespeare emphasizes what love is not: "Love is not love / Which changes when it finds an alteration" (lines 2-3 ). He does so even when he states that,.