Sonnet 46

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Shakespeare. Sonnet 1

«Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight». 

The poet alludes to contradictions within himself when he considers his longing for the sight of the youth’s good looks and his need to love and be loved by the youth himself.

Sonnet 46
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Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture’s 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 pierced with crystal eyes–
But the defendant doth that plea deny
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To ‘cide this title is impanneled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart,
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye’s moiety and the dear heart’s part:
As thus; mine eye’s due is thy outward part,
And my heart’s right thy inward love of heart.

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Sonnet 46 thus deals with the theme of conflict between the poet’s eyes and heart: “Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war / How to divide the conquest of thy sight.”

He says that his heart wants the youth to itself, and the eye would bar the heart from the youth as well. Legal terminology used in the sonnet reflects contemporary life in the impaneling of an impartial jury to decide the matter. A verdict is reached when the poet awards the youth’s outward appearance to the eye and his inner love to the heart.

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Credits

English audio from YouTube Channel Socratica

Summary from Cliffsnotes.com

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