Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Sonnet 148: William Shakespeare




Sonnet 148:
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

Love's eye is not so true as all men's: no,
How can it? O! how can Love's 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 keep'st me blind,
     
Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should find.
Analysis:
This sonnet is about how when you are in love, your judgement and reason disappears, because you are so in love with that person you can’t see anything bad. Throughout the sonnet, the writer is discussing how is judgment is lost when it comes to love.  The first 4 lines, he is talking about when he is in love, he cannot see accurately. Or if he can see rightly, where is his judgement that wrongly criticise what they see:
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?

The next section talks about how if the woman he has an infatuation on, is beautiful to him, why can’t others see it? He is so distressed by staying awake and crying, that he can’t see your terrible flaws.
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

Love's eye is not so true as all men's: no,
How can it? O! how can Love's eye be true,

That is so vexed with watching and with tears?

In the end, the writer understands that with proper, accurately-seeing eyes, he would notice that this woman he is obsessed with isn’t all that great and love is cunning, to trick men into traps.
Literary Devices:
This sonnet doesn't use that many poetic devices. Here are some that are used:
·      Metaphors- Shakespeare’s sonnets are filled with metaphors.  A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable. For instance, line 12: "The sun itself sees not, till heaven clears." Quite literally, this means that the sun can not shine when the clouds are out. I think that when the word 'heaven' is used, it is referring to a 'state of being in heaven,' to be happy or in love. The sun could mean light and brightness, which could refer to knowledge and reason. I think this means that when you are in love, you are 'blinded,' and you can't think reasonably.
·      Rhyming-rhyming has been used in this sonnet to help the lines low and make more sense. Rhymes creates an easier to understand this sonnet.

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