The two themes in Shakespeare's sonnets 116 and 55 are love and eternity. In both sonnets, eternity plays a primary role while love plays a supporting role. Even though these two themes are prevalent in both sonnets, they work in different ways. In Sonnet 116, the speaker clearly suggests a theme of love while the theme of eternity develops through figurative language and metaphor. In Sonnet 55, however, the speaker reverses the themes. The speaker openly suggests the theme of eternity while the theme of love develops through figurative language and metaphor. The speaker does this by presenting a contrast between the material world and the immaterial world. Despite this elementary difference in how the speaker illustrates these two themes, once they are established, it becomes apparent that the theme eternity forms the backbone in both sonnets, while, the theme of love plays an important secondary thematic role.
In Sonnet 116, the speaker introduces both themes immediately. The speaker introduces marriage, a form of love, on line one and says love twice on line two. The speaker's choice of marriage as the form of love introduced becomes extremely important. The speaker uses marriage, to typify love in order to clarify the kind of love in this relationship. The speaker presents this type of love not as something temporary but as something that will "[bear] it out even to the edge of doom" (12). This clarification becomes very important for the understanding of this sonnet.
Unlike in Sonnet 116, the speaker of Sonnet 55 does not form the theme of love immediately. The speaker imbeds the theme of love in the contrast between the material world and the immaterial world. The speaker presents this sonnet not as a traditional love poem but as a description of love's endurance. "Wasteful war" will overturn statues, but "war's quick fire" will never burn "the living record of your memory" (7, 8).
