Return to Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 |
2.
Admit impediments: Echoes the marriage service: "If any of you know cause or just impediment why these persons should not be joined together . . ."
4.
bends with the remover to remove: i.e., goes away when the beloved goes away.
5.
mark: i.e., seamark. Seamarks are navigation aids, such as buoys, beacons, and wind-proof structures, such as the one pictured below.
6.
tempests: storms.
7.
bark: ship.
8.
his height be taken: i.e., its height is [or can be] calculated. The apparent height of Polaris (the North Star) above the horizon was used to determine the latitude of a ship. A sextant, seen in use below, was used to calculate the height of Polaris.
9.
Time's fool: Time's plaything or object of mockery.
10.
Within his bending sickle's compass: i.e., within curved range of of Time's scythe. Father Time uses his sickle (or scythe) cut down people, as a harvester uses his to cut down grain.
11.
his: i.e., Time's.
12.
bears it out: endures. the edge of doom: the brink of Doomsday.