Sonnet 24 Lyrics
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held
And perspective that is best painter's art
For through the painter must you see his skill
To find where your true image pictured lies
Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art
They draw but what they see, know not the heart
About
Text of Sonnet 24 from the 1609 Quarto.
Sonnet 24 leads on from the previous sonnet in that the Bard draws on his creative skills to portray the beauty of the Fair Youth. However, it is his eye that “hath played the painter” rather than his eloquent pen that he must depend on. These skills have their limitations, according to the poet, a similar idea he puts forward in Sonnet 16.
This sonnet poses challenges. The fourth line has never achieved a satisfactory interpretation. It is worth referring to Don Paterson’s Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets. The dominant conceit is, however, brought to a conclusion in the final couplet, where Shakespeare asserts that the eyes can draw what they see but never know what is in the heart. So, the Fair Youth’s feelings remain elusive.
About Sonnets
A sonnet is a poem which expresses a thought or idea and develops it, often cleverly and wittily.
The sonnet genre is often, although not always, about ideals or hypothetical situations. It reaches back to the Medieval Romances, where a woman is loved and idealised by a worshipping admirer. For example, Sir Philip Sydney in the Astrophil and Stella sonnet sequence wrote in this mode. Poems were circulated within groups of educated intellectuals and they did not necessarily reflect the poet’s true emotions, but were a form of intellectual showing-off. This may not have been true of all; it is a matter of academic debate today. It is generally believed, however, that Shakespeare’s sonnets were autobiographical, although some dispute this. BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Sonnets are made up of fourteen lines, each being ten syllables long. Its rhymes are arranged according to one of the following schemes:
• Italian, where eight lines consisting of two quatrains make up the first section of the sonnet, called an octave. This section will explore a problem or an idea. It is followed by the next section of six lines called a sestet, that forms the ‘answer’ or a counter-view. This style of sonnet is also sometimes called a Petrarchan sonnet.
• English, which comprises three quatrains, making twelve lines in total, followed by a rhyming couplet. They too explore an idea. The ‘answer’ or resolution comes in the final couplet. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern. Edmund Spenser’s sonnets are a variant.
At the break in the sonnet — in Italian after the first eight lines, in English after twelve lines — there is a ‘turn’ or volta, after which there will be a change or new perspective on the preceding idea.
Language
The metre is iambic pentameter, that is five pairs of stressed and unstressed syllables to the line. The effect is stately and rhythmic, and conveys an impression of dignity and seriousness. Shakespeare’s sonnets follow this pattern.
Rhyme Scheme
The rhyming pattern comprises three sets of four lines, forming quatrains, followed by a closed rhyming couplet.
In Sonnet 24 it forms the pattern ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG. This is typical of Shakespeare’s compositions.
See Don Paterson – Reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Faber & Faber, 2012
Helen Vendler The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets Harvard University Press
Shakespeare’s Sonnets with Three Hundred Years of Commentary, Associated University Press 2007
BBC Podcast, Melvyn Bragg, “In Our Time” Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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