The rhyme scheme of this sonnet follows Shakespeare's usual structure, wherein the quatrains all have an independent alternating rhyme (ABAB CDCD EFEF), and the final two lines form an heroic couplet (GG). This adds to the feeling of receiving discrete steps of an argument, and enhances the divisions of the versification. There is also a noticeable prevalence of "l's and "s's in the poem, particularly in the first and third quatrains. these sounds make up the basics of the word "lies," which is itself used as a rhyme and is repeated in the poem, and which forms one of the major themes of the sonnet. In this way, the alliteration subconsciously reinforces the meaning and feel of the poem. There are also instances of repeated words, such as "love" in the lines "O love's best habit is in seeming trust, / and age in love, loves not to have..." (lines 11-2). Though this is also important to his rhetoric, it has the musical effect of repetitive obsession.
Shakespeare's true poetic genius lay in the fact that he could achieve such musicality while at the same time creating incredibly complex rhetorical arguments and images. There is not an instance of metaphor or other easily identified literary trope in the sonnet, but the overall argument Shakespeare lays out in the sonnet -- as well as the specific construction of some of these arguments -- demonstrates his extreme rhetorical skill. As Margreta de Grazia notes, "for both words...
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