Sonnet 61: Is It Thy Will Thy Image Should Keep Open
Sonnet 61: Is It Thy Will Thy Image Should Keep Open - meaning Summary
Wakeful Love and Jealousy
The speaker confronts a beloved whose imagined presence keeps him awake and watchful. He asks whether the beloved intentionally disturbs his sleep by sending a spirit of jealousy to spy on his actions, then refutes that the beloved’s love is so powerful. Instead he admits his own love and suspicion keep him sleepless, acting as a guard while the beloved is physically distant and potentially close to others.
Read Complete AnalysesIs it thy will thy image should keep open My heavy eyelids to the weary night? Dost thou desire my slumbers should be broken While shadows like to thee do mock my sight? Is it thy spirit that thou send’st from thee So far from home into my deeds to pry, To find out shames and idle hours in me, The scope and tenure of thy jealousy? O, no, thy love, though much, is not so great; It is my love that keeps mine eye awake, Mine own true love that doth my rest defeat, To play the watchman ever for thy sake. For thee watch I whilst thou dost wake elsewhere, From me far off, with others all too near.
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