Analysis of Sonnet 46: Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
William Shakespeare 1564 (Stratford-upon-Avon) – 1616 (Stratford-upon-Avon)
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right,
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie—
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes—
But the defendant doth that plea deny,
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impanellèd
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart,
And by their verdict is determinèd
The clear eye's moiety, and the dear heart's part.
As thus, mine eye's due is thy outward part,
And my heart's right thy inward love of heart.
| Scheme | ABCBDEDEFGFGGG |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 1101110101 1101010111 1111110111 1111010111 1111110111 0101011101 1001011101 0101110101 11110111 0111110101 01110111 011100111 1111111101 0111110111 |
| Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
| Characters | 611 |
| Words | 117 |
| Sentences | 4 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 14 |
| Lines Amount | 14 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
| Words per line (avg) | 8 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 466 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 115 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 36 sec read
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"Sonnet 46: Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/41494/sonnet-46%3A-mine-eye-and-heart-are-at-a-mortal-war>.
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