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. Sonnet 46 . (original language, but moderately updated) 01. Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war, 02. How to divide the conquest of thy sight, 03. Mine eye, my heart their picture's sight would bar, 04. My heart, mine eye the freedom of that right, 05. My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie, 06. (A closet never pierced with crystal eyes,) 07. But the defendant doth that plea deny, 08. And says in him their fair appearance lies. 09. To side this title, is impaneled 10. A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart, 11. And by their verdict is determined 12. The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part. 13. As thus; mine eyes' due is their outward part, 14. And my heart's right, their inward love of heart. |
. Sonnet 46 . (paraphrased) 01. My eye and my heart are doing fierce battle, over 02. How to divide up the "spoils of my victory" as I look at you; 03. My eyes would deny to my heart their lovely image of you they see, (since they want you all to themselves,) 04. My heart would deny my eyes the free exercise of that right, of keeping you all to themselves; 05. My heart pleads that you properly belong in him, 06. (In his private room, windowless, where eyes don't look,) 07. But my eyes, in their defense, deny the heart's claim, to a share of you, 08. And argue that, it's in them, where their image of your lovely appearance properly belongs; 09. To justly assign this title, of ownership of you, to one side or the other, I impanel 10. An inquest of my thoughts, as jury - and all my thoughts of you are the servants of my heart, my love for you - 11. And my thoughts reach a verdict to determine 12. My clear-seeing eyes' share, and the part of you that dearly belongs to my heart. 13. The verdict is this: my eyes should have what they can see of the outer you, 14. And my heart has a right to my eyes' love of you, since love belongs inwardly in me, in my heart. |
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Sonnet 46 Gloss
L1: mortal = fierce; extremely contentious. "Mortal" is used facetiously, or exaggeratedly, in the emotional way - "oh dear, somebody could get killed in this fight!" L2: conquest = spoils of victory. The "victory" is that the Poet is with the addressee in person. The Poet is counting it a personal victory that he's in the presence of the addressee. The "spoils" are the image, or vision, of the addressee, as the Poet looks at the addressee. L2: thy sight = my perception of you. L3: eye = eyes. The singular is poetic, to go with the singular for "heart." The Eye, personified, is the (two) eyes. L3: their pictures = their images. The "selfish" eyes want to keep their images of the addressee entirely to themselves. L4: freedom = permission. The heart wants the eyes' images of the addressee. It's a concept that links back to Sonnet 24: "Thy beauty's form in table of my heart." L4: right - Of keeping the addressee all to themselves. L5: plead = argue; contend. L5: lie =belong. There's implicit, facetious, truth/lie wordplay, since "dost lie" means "does truly lie." L6: closet = private room. The heart is likened to a private room. It doesn't mean "closet" in the modern sense. L6: crystal eyes = windows. "Eyes" is used because of the idea of eyes seeing through windows. The concept relates back to Sonnet 24: "That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes." L7: defendant = the eyes. (Note, to the right.) L8: their - The plural is because of having two eyes, which form two images. The Eye, personified, has two images. Also, "their" puns with "there," i.e. "their fair appearance lies" - fair appearance lies there. L9: side - Refers to ruling for one side or the other in the "case." L9: title = title of "ownership." L9: impaneled = enrolled for "jury duty." 10: quest = inquest. L10: thought - The Poet's thoughts are the "jury." L10: tenants = vassals; servants. (Note, to the right.) L12: clear ... dear - The eye sees "clearly," and the heart perceives "dearly." L12: moity = equitable share. L13: As thus = here's the verdict. L13: their outward part = what they can see on the outside. L14: their = the eyes'. (Note, to the right.) |
Sonnet 46 Notes
The words "their," throughout the Sonnet, are correct as originally printed, with no misprint. Modern reprints that change any of them to "thy" are wrong. Such editorial presumption, and blundering, will make the Sonnet impossible to interpret correctly. Readers among the general public need to be aware that Shakespeare scholars have, over the years, developed the extremely unfortunate, and quite stupid, habit of changing what the Shakespeare writings actually say, when the scholars do not quickly and easily understand the writings. If you see a copy of Sonnet 46 in which the words "their" are changed, you will know that the editor who did that was incompetent, and he changed the true Shakespeare wording because he couldn't read it (or he was too lazy to devote enough attention to trying to read the correct wording.) Then, the general reader gets stuck with that editorial blundering - and so do later scholars, who give earlier, mistaken reprints more credit than they deserve. An average reader probably won't realize that a Shakespeare editor would change the true words just because they didn't "look right" to that editor. However, that has happened often with Shakespeare, even where the editors were supposed to be professionals doing a professional job. On the bright side, it does mean that for younger Shakespeare scholars there are many opportunities, despite the amount that's already been written about Shakespeare, because so much of the earlier work, in the field of Shakespeare studies, is so poor. So again, for the general reader, be aware that much of what passes for Shakespeare, in circulation these days, is not authentic, and interpretations based on an earlier editor's incompetence, rather than genuine Shakespeare, are not going to be worth much, if anything. ------- L7: defendant = the eyes. The heart is the "injured party" that brought the complaint, because the eyes are trying to deny the heart any part of the addressee's image. The eyes want the addressee all to themselves, and the heart doesn't think that's fair. L10: tenants = vassals; servants. The concept is that the question is the proper dominion of the heart, which gives the heart sovereignty, or jurisdiction. Thus the Poet's thoughts, the "jury," are all servants of his heart, because they're "residents" of the heart's domain. The decision is being made where the heart "rules," i.e. under the "rule" of love. It means the "jury" is biased - by love. It is not an impartial jury. That's perfectly just in the circumstances. The Poet loves the addressee, and love isn't supposed to be impartial. L14: their = the eyes'. The "verdict" assigns any love the eyes have, for the addressee, to the heart. The verdict is a decision against the eyes, as far as love goes, and a ruling in favor of the heart. To the extent the Poet's eyes hold "loving images" of the addressee, they have to give up those loving images, to the heart, since loving images properly belong to the heart. So, the final decree is, Eye may keep its beautiful images of the addressee, but must hand over its loving images of the addressee to the Heart. |
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