Sonnet XLVI
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 side this title is impannelledA quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart;And by their verdict is determinedThe 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.
About this text
Sonnet XLVI is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet XLVI, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-46.html, id L00064.
Form and metre
Sonnet XLVI is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG warA · sightB · barA · rightB · lieC · eyesD · denyC · liesD · impannelledE · heartF · determinedE · partF · partG · heartG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| How to divide the conquest of thy sight; | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Mine eye my heart thy picture’s sight would bar, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My heart mine eye the freedom of that right. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie, | 10 | ·········· |
| A closet never pierced with crystal eyes; | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| But the defendant doth that plea deny, | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| And says in him thy fair appearance lies. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| To side this title is impannelled | 10 | ···/˘····˘ |
| A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And by their verdict is determined | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| The clear eye’s moiety, and the dear heart’s part: | 11 | ···/˘˘····· |
| As thus; mine eye’s due is thy outward part, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And my heart’s right, thy inward love of heart. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.