Sonnet 113: Since I Left You, Mine Eye Is in My Mind
Sonnet 113: Since I Left You, Mine Eye Is in My Mind - context Summary
Published in 1609 Sonnets
Published in the 1609 Sonnets, Sonnet 113 depicts a speaker whose perception is wholly governed by absence. Though his eyes still register the world, the mind reshapes every sight into the beloved’s likeness, so that birds, landscapes and faces all become that single image. The poem presents a paradox: intense mental fidelity to the beloved makes sensory experience "untrue," revealing how love alters perception and identity.
Read Complete AnalysesSince 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 rud’st 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 maketh mine untrue.
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