Sonnet 43: When Most I Wink, Then Do Mine Eyes Best See
Sonnet 43: When Most I Wink, Then Do Mine Eyes Best See - meaning Summary
Vision Inverted by Longing
The speaker describes a paradox in which he sees his beloved most clearly when asleep and dreaming. Daylight brings ordinary, unremarked sight, while night and dreams render the beloved vividly present as a 'bright' shadow that illuminates blind eyes. The poem frames longing as a reversal of vision: absence turns days into nights and dreaming of the beloved makes nights into bright days, emphasizing yearning and the power of the mind to make absence visible.
Read Complete AnalysesWhen most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, For all the day they view things unrespected; But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee, And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed. Then thou, whose shadow shadows doth make bright, How would thy shadow’s form, form happy show To the clear day with thy much clearer light, When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so! How would, I say, mine eyes be blessèd made, By looking on thee in the living day, When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay! All days are nights to see till I see thee, And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.
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