Sonnet XLVII
Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,And each doth good turns now unto the other:When that mine eye is famish’d for a look,Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,With my love’s picture then my eye doth feast,And to the painted banquet bids my heart;Another time mine eye is my heart’s guest,And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:So, either by thy picture or my love,Thyself away, art present still with me;For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,And I am still with them, and they with thee;Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sightAwakes my heart, to heart’s and eye’s delight.
Words in this poem
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Sonnet XLVII 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 XLVII, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-47.html, id L00065.
Form and metre
Sonnet XLVII 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 91%). 100% 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. 7% 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 tookA · otherB · lookA · smotherB · feastC · heartD · guestC · partD · loveE · meF · moveE · theeF · sightG · delightG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And each doth good turns now unto the other: | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| When that mine eye is famish’d for a look, | 10 | ·········· |
| Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother, | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| With my love’s picture then my eye doth feast, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And to the painted banquet bids my heart; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Another time mine eye is my heart’s guest, | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| And in his thoughts of love doth share a part: | 10 | ·········· |
| So, either by thy picture or my love, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Thyself away, art present still with me; | 10 | ˘/˘/·/˘··· |
| For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And I am still with them, and they with thee; | 10 | ·········· |
| Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Awakes my heart, to heart’s and eye’s delight. | 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.