Sonnet 113

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Shakespeare. Sonnet 1

«Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
And that which governs me to go about». 

More from a sense of duty than a meaningful expression of emotion, the poet professes to see the young man in everything while he is away from the youth.

Sonnet 113
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Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
And that which governs me to go about
Doth part his function and is partly blind,
Seems seeing, but effectually is out;
For it no form delivers to the heart
Of bird of flower, or shape, which it doth latch:
Of his quick objects hath the mind no part,
Nor his own vision holds what it doth catch:
For if it see the rudest or gentlest sight,
The most sweet favour or deformed’st creature,
The mountain or the sea, the day or night,
The crow or dove, it shapes them to your feature:
Incapable of more, replete with you,
My most true mind thus makes mine eye untrue.

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The eye-mind dichotomy presented in the first line — “Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind” — recalls earlier sonnets in which thoughts of the young man contented the poet during their separation. Additionally, the use of the words “most” and “true” in the rhyming couplet is similar to their use in Sonnet 110 and hints that the poet is still trying to prove — perhaps more to himself than to the young man — his re-energized love for the youth: “Incapable of more, replete with you, / My most true mind thus maketh mine eye untrue.” Here, “most true mind” means that the only truth that the poet recognizes is his complete devotion to the young man.

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Credits

English audio from YouTube Channel Socratica

Summary from Cliffsnotes.com

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