Is Sonnet 116 a cliche?

sarah0725 · May 2010

I know I'm ages out from actually needing wedding readings, but I was just rereading Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 and thinking about how lots of the internet comments I've read suggest it is way too much of a cliche to actually be used in a wedding. It's the one that starts out, "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..." http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/116.html

Do you think it's a cliche? I've been sitting here thinking about it, and I don't think I actually have ever heard it at a wedding I've attended, and I've been to several. We'll have a couple of English professors there (my aunt and uncle) but I'm not sure if anyone else would notice.

ohwhynot · May 2010

I've never heard it at a wedding; I think it is absolutely lovely. If I heard an awesome reader deliver that sonnet at a wedding I'd be a sniffly mess. Just beautiful.

sarah0725 · May 2010

Hm, maybe it's just Shakespeare scholars who get cranky about it.

My brother would probably be reading it, and I think he could do it justice.

sucrets4 · May 2010

I don't think it matters, Sarah. If you guys love it, then use it. I don't think I've heard it used before, though.

julezlee · May 2010

I've never heard it at a wedding. Even if it is popular, I think it's fine to be a little cliche if it's something you love.

JessAndTrav · May 2010

I have never heard it at a wedding. I think that if you and your FI love it, then you should, even if we said here that we've heard it a gazillion times.

It's about what you and your FI want. Every wedding is a little cookie-cutterish, so I say use it regardless.

laurenclaire1386 · May 2010

I think it's wonderful. Agree with Jess too-there aren't many wedding details that haven't been done before.

sarah0725 · May 2010

Thanks guys! I'm going to think about this some more, and maybe ask my aunt if there's anything I'm missing in making sure the sonnet isn't secretly snarky or anything.

So now I may be up to two good readings... all I have to do is get FI's approval.

jasmineh7777 · May 2010

I like this one, and I've never heard it at a wedding.
I'm just excited that it's not 18, "shall I compare thee to a summer's day." That is my least favorite sonnet.

[Deleted User] · May 2010

I've never heard it at a wedding. Most weddings I have been to have been Catholic, or in a church at least and they usually don't have secular readings though.

I say use it! I think we on the knot get super-saturated with wedding stuff and say things are over done when IRL many people may never have seen them.

opalsky007 · May 2010

I have never heard it at a wedding either. We used the mother of all ceremony cliches, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43. But we actually read Browning to each other all the time, and it's our favorite, so it was fitting. If anyone rolled their eyes at it, screw 'em. We had a good reason for picking it.

TurtlesAllTheWayDown · May 2010

Nah, it's classic. ;-)

Also, I'm thinking of using it, so I'm biased.

Is Sonnet 116 a cliche?

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