SONNETS 46-57
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Sonnet 46
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war,
How to divide the conquest of thy sight,
Mine eye, my heart their 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 their fair appearance lies.
To side this title is impanelled
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 their outward part,
And my heart�s right, their inward love of heart.
Sonnets 46 and 47 examine the logic of the eyes, and their influence on the
mind and heart. Sonnet 46, particularly, shows why the logical relation of
�thine eyes� to �truth and beauty�, as defined in sonnet 14, is so basic to an
understanding of the whole set. Because most editors emend four instances
of the word �their� in Q, to �thy� (46.3,8,13,14), sonnet 46 provides an insight
into why the Sonnets are persistently misinterpreted.
Truth and beauty are not determined by the singular presence (thy) of
the youth or the Poet. Rather, from sonnet 14, both �thine eyes� (14.9) of
�thy sight� (46.2) reveal what is in the mind and heart. The phrase �mine
eye� (46.1,3) implies the two eyes of sight. The two eyes work together with
the mind to evaluate what they see in the eyes of others, (as in the �your
eye I eyed� of sonnet 104). So, in each case, the plural �their� refers to the
two eyes. So �their pictures sight� (46.3) is the picture generated in the mind
by the eyes, and �their fair appearance� (46.8) refers back to the role of the
�crystal eyes� at 46.6.
In sonnet 46, the visual image formed in �mine eye� (46.1) is at �mortal
war� with the unsighted feelings the Poet experiences in his �heart�.
Shakespeare�s �war� is over the logic of perception and comprehension. Does
the eye or heart have priority in the formation of mental pictures? To �divide�
the �conquest of thy sight� (46.2) the eyes (mine eye) would bar �their
pictures� from the heart, and the heart would bar the eyes from the �freedom
of that right� (46.4). The heart pleads that the youth lies within �him� where
the evidence of the external world never �pierces� (46.6). But the eyes of
the mind say the youth is �their fair appearance� through the faculty of sight
(46.8).
The sides (46.9) in the �mortal war� between �mine eye� and �heart� are
determined by the �verdict� of a �quest of thoughts� (46.10). Shakespeare
indicates his preference by calling the �thoughts� tenants to the heart.
Consistent with the logic of beauty and truth articulated in the Mistress
sequence, thoughts (truth) and not feelings (beauty) decide the �title�. Before
the verdict is given the result is expressed in the �clear eye�s moiety� (46.12)
and the �dear heart�s part� (recalling the �dear religious love� of sonnet 31).
In the couplet, the judgment is that �mine eye�s due is their outward part�
or that the eyes determine the image, which then can be used by the heart
to receive from the eyes �their inward love of heart�. So the eyes, mind, and
heart, are logically connected. Viewing eye to eye evokes a response in the
mind and heart. The �clear outward part� and the �dear inward part� are
distinct and yet united in the dynamic of truth and beauty.
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Roger Peters Copyright © 2001
Introduction
1-9
10-21
22-33
34-45
46-57
58-69
70-81
82-93
94-105
106-117
118-129
130-141
142-153
154
Emendations
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