William Shakespeare

Sonnet 132: Thine Eyes I Love, and They, as Pitying Me

Sonnet 132: Thine Eyes I Love, and They, as Pitying Me - meaning Summary

Eyes as Mourning Signs

The speaker praises his beloved’s eyes, seeing them dressed in black as if pitying him for the beloved’s coldness. He interprets their mournful look as proof that grief suits the beloved and urges the heart to share that mourning. If sorrow flatters the beloved’s appearance, the speaker declares that even blackened beauty would be true beauty, and anyone lacking the beloved’s complexion would seem ugly by comparison.

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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.

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