COMMENTARY
SONNET XLVII
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XLVII
1. Betwixt mine eye
and heart a league is took, |
The contest between heart and eyes is settled, and they now live in amity, in fact doing good turns to one another. This is still however a sonnet of absence, (see line 10) but it seems that for a time the poet has emerged onto a tranquil sea, after being tossed by so many storms and tempests. The mere sight of an image of the beloved, or remembrance of an image, is for him like a banquet. Even when his thoughts sleep he dreams of the beloved and both eyes and heart are blissfully happy. | |||
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THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION
Or heart in loue with fighes himfelfe doth fmother; With my loues picture then my eye doth feaft, And to the painted banquet bids my heart: An other time my eye is my hearts gueft, And in his thoughts of loue doth fhare a part. So either by thy picture or my loue, Thy feife away,are prefent ftill with me, For thou nor farther then my thoughts canft moue, And I am ftill with them and they with thee. Or if they fleepe, thy picture in my fight Awakes my heart,to hearts and eyes delight. |
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| 1. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took, | 1. a league is took = a pact, or agreement, is made. I'll kiss thy hand, In sign of League and amity with thee. R3. I.3.281. took is equivalent to taken, made, effected. | |
| 2. And each doth good turns now unto the other: | 2. Sonnet 24 has Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done. Here it is the heart and eyes which mutually favour each other. | |
| 3. When that mine eye is famish'd for a look, | 3. Whenever my eye is famished and eager to look on you | |
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4. Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
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4. The most probable reading here is to take sighs with himself doth smother. Thus 'When my heart, being in love, smothers itself with sighs.' There is however a residual meaning of 'When my heart, being in love with sighs, smothers itself with them.' | |
| 5. With my love's picture then my eye doth feast, | 5. Either an image retained in memory, or, most probably, a portrait which he looks at. (See the following line). | |
| 6. And to the painted banquet bids my heart; | 6. painted banquet - referring to the image of the loved one, seen by the eye, from a portrait, rather than from the real thing. | |
| 7. Another time mine eye is my heart's guest, | 7. When no images are available the eye relies on the heart. | |
| 8. And in his thoughts of love doth share a part: | 8. his = the heart's. | |
| 9. So, either by thy picture or my love, | 9. | |
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10. Thy self away, art present still with me;
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10. art
is emended from Q's are in
deference to grammar. Thou thyself art present
would be the normal form in Shakespeare's time. However the
construction is fluid and retaining are it could be
taken to include thy picture or my love as subject
of are, along with thou thyself. still = always, constantly. |
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| 11. For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move, | 11. Q has nor which is generally emended to no or not. | |
| 12. And I am still with them, and they with thee; | 12. still - see above, line 10. they = my thoughts. | |
| 13. Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight | 13. if they sleep - if my thoughts sleep | |
| 14. Awakes my heart, to heart's and eye's delight. | 14. | |
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