Sonnet 132: Thine Eyes I Love, And They, As Pitying Me Poem by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 132: Thine Eyes I Love, And They, As Pitying Me

Rating: 3.3


Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,
Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,
Have put on black, and loving mourners be,
Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.
And truly not the morning sun of heaven
Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east,
Nor that full star that ushers in the even
Doth half that glory to the sober west
As those two mourning eyes become thy face.
O, let it then as well beseem thy heart
To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace,
And suit thy pity like in every part.
Then will I swear beauty herself is black,
And all they foul that thy complexion lack.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Fabrizio Frosini 25 January 2016

This sonnet takes up again the theme of 127, that his mistress's eyes, being black, seem to be in mourning. But whereas in the earlier sonnet they seemed to be mourning for the fact that most beauty was feigned, concocted and cosmetic, now they are pitying the poet himself, but for what is never quite made clear. Traditionally the Petrarchan sonneteer bewailed the fact that his mistress was cold and aloof and refused to respond to his amorous advances. Therefore he was forever desirous of pity for being sexually unsatisfied, although he would never state the matter quite so crudely.

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Fabrizio Frosini 25 January 2016

... In the context of what follows in sonnets 133 & 134, in which the poet implies that his friend has been hooked by this Siren mistress, and that he himself is betrayed, the pity might be required simply because he, the poet, has been put on one side. But in 135 & 136, the main theme of which seems to be sexual intercourse and the fact that he is not getting enough of it, the pity would seem to be required as consolation for his never ending frustrations There is probably a partial element of satire in all this, a satire of the sonnet tradition and of beauty's comparisons (the sun, the evening star etc.) . The poet will not declare why the pity is needed, but he enjoys the twist in the end, that the beauty who is denying him all this is both black and not black, fair and not fair, foul and not foul, wicked and not wicked, all at the same time. Most of the dark lady sonnets work simultaneously on a number of different levels. This one glides easily between the worlds of visual description, sexual innuendo, moral criticism, emotional entanglement and social commentary, without firmly setting a foot in any one of them. shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/

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Brian Jani 26 April 2014

Awesome I like this poem, check mine out

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