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 | ˘/······˘/ |
Notes from the edition 4
Notes by William J. Rolfe, Shakespeare's Sonnets (New York, 1905), Internet Archive scan
- Line 1 Took. S. has both took and taken (or td1 en) for the participle. 3. Famished for a look. Cf. 75. 10 below. Malone quotes C. of E. ii. 1. 88 : " Whilst I at home starve for a merry look."
- Line 9 Thy picture or. Lintott has "the picture or," and Gildon " the picture of."
- Line 10 Art. The quarto has "are ; " corrected by Malone.
- Line 11 Not. The quarto has "nor ; " corrected in the ed. of 1640. With Sonn. 46, 47, Dowden compares Sunnets 19, 20 of Wat- son's Tears of Fancie, 1593 (ed. Arber, p. 188) : — " My hart impos'd this penance on mine eies, (Eies the first causers of my harts lamenting) : That (hey should weepe till lone and fancie dies, Fond lone the last cause of my harts repenting. Mine eies vpon my hart inflict this paine (Bold hart that dard to harbour thoughts of loue) That it should loue and purchase fell disdaine, A grieuous penance which my heart doth proue, Mine eies did weep as hart had them imposed, My hart did pine as eies had it constrained," etc. Sonnet 20 continues the same : — " My hart accus'd mine eies and was offended, Hart said that loue did enter at the eies, And from the eies descended to the hart ; Eies said that in the hart did sparkes arise," etc. Cf. also Diana (ed. 1584), Sixth Decade, Sonnet 7 (Arber's Eng- lish Garner ; and Drayton, Idea, 33).
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