Shakespeare's Sonnets: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes

Shakespeare's Sonnets: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes

Sonnet 141

1In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
2For they in thee a thousand errors note,
3But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,
4Who in despite of view is pleas'd to dote.
5Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted,
6Nor tender feeling to base touches prone,
7Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
8To any sensual feast with thee alone;
9But my five wits, nor my five senses can
10Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee
11Who leaves unsway'd the likeness of a man,
12Thy proud heart's slave and vassal wretch to be.
13    Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
14    That she that makes me sin awards me pain.

Notes

2] errors] defects. Back to Line
5] Extrametrical, with line 7. Back to Line
6] base touches] sexual fondling. Back to Line
9] But] But (neither). five wits: the five spiritual or mental faculties, named in the early 16th-century moral play, The World and the Child, as "Clear in mind ... / Imagination and all reason, / Understanding and compassion" (Six Anonymous Plays, ed. J. S. Farmer [London, 1905]: 190). five senses: eyes (line 1), ears (5), touch (6), taste and smell (7). Back to Line
11] unsway'd] ungoverned, unruled. Back to Line
13] plague] prehaps venereal disease. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1609
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2008
Rhyme
ababcdcdefefgg
Form
sonnet