NCERT Class 11 English Elective Let Me Not to the Marriage

Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

                                                          O no, it is an ever-fixed mark

                                                          That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

                                                          It is the star to every wandering bark,

                                                          Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

                                                          If this be error, and upon me proved,

                                                          I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

UNDERSTANDING THE POEM

1. ‘Constancy’ is the theme of the poem. Indicate the words, phrases and images that suggest the theme.

2. Why do you think the poet has used so many ‘negatives’ to make his statement?

3. What does the line ‘I never writ, nor no man ever loved’ imply?

4. Love is presented as the subject or doer of actions in the poem. Why do you think the poet has used this form rather than involving human agents?

5. Explain the phrases

    a. his bending sickle’s compass

    b. Time’s fool

Please refer to attached file for NCERT Class 11 English Elective Let Me Not to the Marriage