Sonnet 133: Beshrew That Heart That Makes My Heart to Groan
Sonnet 133: Beshrew That Heart That Makes My Heart to Groan - meaning Summary
Divided by a Single Love
The speaker complains that one beloved causes pain to both himself and his closest friend, creating a threefold torment. He describes being possessed by that beloved’s power, losing autonomy and seeing his friend enslaved by the same attraction. The poem frames this as a painful jealousy and divided loyalty: the speaker offers himself as guardian or prisoner to resolve the conflict, yet recognizes he remains inevitably subject to the beloved’s will.
Read Complete AnalysesBeshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan For that deep wound it gives my friend and me! Is’t not enough to torture me alone, But slave to slavery my sweet’st friend must be? Me from my self thy cruel eye hath taken, And my next self thou harder hast engrossed. Of him, myself, and thee I am forsaken A torment thrice threefold thus to be crossed. Prison my heart in thy steel bosom’s ward, But then my friend’s heart let my poor heart bail; Whoe’er keeps me, let my heart be his guard, Thou canst not then use rigour in my jail. And yet thou wilt; for I, being pent in thee, Perforce am thine, and all that is in me.
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