Sonnet 128: How Oft, When Thou, My Music, Music Play’st
Sonnet 128: How Oft, When Thou, My Music, Music Play’st - context Summary
Published 1609
Published in 1609 within Shakespeare's Sonnets, Sonnet 128 is presented as one of the collection's formal sonnets. No definite occasion or biographical tie is recorded. The poem stages a speaker addressing a beloved who plays a stringed instrument, using erotic and jealous imagery to link music-making with physical desire. As part of the 1609 volume, it participates in the book's recurring intimate address, while its specific compositional circumstances remain uncertain.
Read Complete AnalysesHow oft, when thou, my music, music play’st, Upon that blessèd wood whose motion sounds With thy sweet fingers when thou gently sway’st The wiry concord that mine ear confounds, Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap To kiss the tender inward of thy hand, Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap, At the wood’s boldness by thee blushing stand! To be so tickled, they would change their state And situation with those dancing chips O’er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait, Making dead wood more blest than living lips. Since saucy jacks so happy are in this, Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
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