Question

Read the passage. 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. In Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare, based on the rhyme scheme, what text structure of a sonnet do these lines illustrate?

Answer 1

I would say this is an English (Shakespearian) sonnet, because the line rhymes like abab.

Answer 2

The Shakespearean Sonnet is composed of 14 lines divided in three quatrains and a couple, this stanza is the third one or third quatrain, the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG so this stanza rhyme scheme is EFEF as follows:

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

F  -  Within his bending sickle’s compass come;  

E  -  Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,  

F  -  But bears it out even to the edge of doom.