Sonnet 8: Music to Hear, Why Hear’st Thou Music Sadly?
Sonnet 8: Music to Hear, Why Hear’st Thou Music Sadly? - meaning Summary
Harmony Urges Marriage
Shakespeare addresses a young man who listens to music sadly and argues that harmonious sounds model the human need for union. Using musical and familial metaphors, the poem links tuned strings and blended voices to marriage and procreation, suggesting that coupling produces joyful, amplified life. The speaker urges the addressee to leave “singleness” behind, warning that natural concord calls him to join and continue his line.
Read Complete AnalysesMusic to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly? Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy. Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly, Or else receiv’st with pleasure thine annoy? If the true concord of well-tunèd sounds, By unions married, do offend thine ear, They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear. Mark how one string, sweet husband to another, Strikes each in each by mutual ordering, Resembling sire and child and happy mother, Who, all in one, one pleasing note do sing; Whose speechless song being many, seeming one, Sings this to thee: Thou single wilt prove none.
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