Structure and Form
Sonnet 124 has the structural characteristics of a traditional Shakespearean_sonnet; It is composed of 14 lines, which can be divided into three quatrains and an ending couplet. It is written in iambic pentameter and has a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Iambic Pentameter of Line 1 of Sonnet 124:
| Stress | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / | x | / |
| Syllable | if | my | dear | love | were | but | the | child | of | state |
This sonnet’s form, like many other of Shakespeare’s sonnets, uses the two-part structure of a typical Petrarchan Sonnet in which, “eight lines are logically or metaphorically set against the last six an octave-generalization will be followed by a particular sestet-application, an octave question will be followed by a sestet answer or at least a quatrain answer before the summarizing couplet". In Sonnet 124 the volta occurs in the eleventh and twelfth line, though arguable there could be two voltas in this sonnet—as there are at least two times in the poem where a new phrase of ideas is put forth. The first quatrain describes what the speakers’ love would be like if it was simply a result of circumstance. There is then a change in thought as the second quatrain begins to attack the fickle state of the world in which the speaker and addressee reside where there is a lack of enduring resolve found wanting in politics, love, and fashion. The third quatrain continues with the description of the heretical society in which they live, but then presents the idea that the speaker’s love “alone stands” against time, which is then supported by the appeal to witnesses in the ending couplet.
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