The poem is set in a labyrinth, just like the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur on which it is based. However, this labyrinth is not a literal maze that the speaker has to physically navigate. Instead, it is a symbolic labyrinth – it represents, not physical decisions, but emotional ones. However, the physical imagery of the labyrinth still shapes the poem and its central metaphors significantly. Just like in the mythological labyrinth, the speaker's world is full of decisions, and just like in the mythological labyrinth, there is only danger ahead.

Additionally, the speaker suggests that the sonnet itself – with its winding structure, repetition, "turn" (volta), and status as a unit within a broader fourteen-line corona – is a labyrinth of its own. By asking the initial question of how to "turn," the speaker is not only wondering which course of love to follow, but also...