The Sonnets XLVI - Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war

Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy pictures sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie,
A closet never piercd with crystal eyes
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To side this title is impannelled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eyes moiety, and the dear hearts part:
As thus; mine eyes due is thy outward part,
And my hearts right, thy inward love of heart.

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. Known as the 'Bard of Avon,' his extant works include approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

William Shakespeare

The Sonnets CXLVI - Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth

William Shakespeare, Simple Poetry

The Sonnets LXII - Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

William Shakespeare, Simple Poetry

The Sonnets CXXVII - In the old age black was not counted fair

William Shakespeare, Simple Poetry

The Sonnets CXXXVIII - When my love swears that she is made of truth

William Shakespeare, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

The Sonnets XLVII - Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famishd for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my loves picture then my eye doth feast,
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my hearts guest,
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thy self away, art present still with me;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them, and they with thee;
Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
Awakes my heart, to hearts and eyes delight.

William Shakespeare

The Sonnets XXIV - Mine eye hath playd the painter and hath stelld

Mine eye hath playd the painter and hath stelld,
Thy beautys form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein tis held,
And perspective it is best painters art.
For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image picturd lies,
Which in my bosoms shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art,
They draw but what they see, know not the heart.

William Shakespeare

The Sonnets CXIII - Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind

Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
And that which governs me to go about
Doth part his function and is partly blind,
Seems seeing, but effectually is out;
For it no form delivers to the heart
Of bird, of flower, or shape which it doth latch:
Of his quick objects hath the mind no part,
Nor his own vision holds what it doth catch;
For if it see the rudst or gentlest sight,
The most sweet favour or deformedst creature,
The mountain or the sea, the day or night:
The crow, or dove, it shapes them to your feature.
Incapable of more, replete with you,
My most true mind thus maketh mine untrue.

William Shakespeare

The Sonnets CXLVIII - O me! what eyes hath Love put in my head

O me! what eyes hath Love put in my head,
Which have no correspondence with true sight;
Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,
What means the world to say it is not so?
If it be not, then love doth well denote
Loves eye is not so true as all mens: no,
How can it? O! how can Loves eye be true,
That is so vexed with watching and with tears?
No marvel then, though I mistake my view;
The sun itself sees not, till heaven clears.
O cunning Love! with tears thou keepst me blind,
Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find.

William Shakespeare

The Sonnets CXXXVII - Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes

Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
That they behold, and see not what they see?
They know what beauty is, see where it lies,
Yet what the best is take the worst to be.
If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks,
Be anchord in the bay where all men ride,
Why of eyes falsehood hast thou forged hooks,
Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?
Why should my heart think that a several plot,
Which my heart knows the wide worlds common place?
Or mine eyes, seeing this, say this is not,
To put fair truth upon so foul a face?
In things right true my heart and eyes have errd,
And to this false plague are they now transferrd.

William Shakespeare

The Sonnets LXII - Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye

Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye
And all my soul, and all my every part;
And for this sin there is no remedy,
It is so grounded inward in my heart.
Methinks no face so gracious is as mine,
No shape so true, no truth of such account;
And for myself mine own worth do define,
As I all other in all worths surmount.
But when my glass shows me myself indeed
Beated and choppd with tanned antiquity,
Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;
Self so self-loving were iniquity.
Tis thee, myself, that for myself I praise,
Painting my age with beauty of thy days.

William Shakespeare