1. In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,

2. For they in thee a thousand errors note,

3. But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise,

4. Who in despite of view is pleased to dote.

5. Nor are mine ears with thy tongue's tune delighted,

6. Nor tender feeling to base touches prone,

7. Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited

8. To any sensual feast with thee alone:

9. But my five wits, nor my five senses can

10. Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,

11. Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,

12. Thy proud hearts slave and vassal wretch to be:

13. Only my plague thus far I count my gain,

14. That she that makes me sin, awards me pain.

My Love in Spite of Thee

Dedication: To Elizabeth

It is not her bodily appearance or her being that makes him love her, as he sees her poor behavior and imperfections. That it is none of his senses that persuades him to love her. Yet he is captive of her nonetheless and thus such is her power.

1^st Quatrain: (1-4)

Oxford proclaims his love for Elizabeth is not for her looks and appears to be despite them. Which I’ll speculate have either diminished or are affected by her disposition. Line 4, I believe, is a reference to his continuing to dote on Henry when most likely this was not an appropriate way for him to interact with the child and was probably only able to be done in the view of many others where it was inappropriate.

2^nd Quatrain: (5-8)

He goes on to say he his other senses are equally displeased as his sight and none of these leads him to wish to be with her. I can only speculate that Elizabeth continued to wish for Oxford's company. There is ample historical evidence by the way to verify that she was certainly enamored of him.

3rd Quatrain: (9-12)

Yet his heart continues to make him loyal to her and this continuing loyalty to her reduces him to being less than a man. The “serving thee” of line 10 is of course corroborative of his relationship to her as courtier.

couplet (13-14),

Yet even it is even to serve her in the most unpleasant way that provides him any pleasure at all. Clearly an attempt by Oxford to play on guilt and his utter loyalty to win her over to fulfilling his wish despite what Elizabeth is presently doing.

Commentary:

While this poem gives the appearance of finding fault with the subject’s physical beauty, it is more a commentary on the poet’s love for the subject being incongruent with Elizabeth’s actions, i.e. what he visually sees her do. For which he then adds feedback from his other senses to reinforce his sights objections. However the sight is key as it is meant to remind the subject of what his own eyes have been forced to betray previously. Thus this honesty of his sight discussed previously also now reveals things about his love.

The poet again expresses doting on what they despise (like 148 and 149). This sonnet also deals with what the poet dotes on “in spite of view”, i.e. his sight much like 148 and 149. It is interesting to me that Oxford describes himself as "vassal wretch to be" which is reminiscent of the “poor drudge to be” in reference to Henry.

Line 3’s “loves what they despise” is again a reflection of his loving Henry but others finding Henry to be an inconvenient fact which should be ignored. It is also a continuation of the torment and conflict the poet feels as he is expected to go against himself for his love of Elizabeth and need for subservience. And the reference to his “plague” as his “gain” are important but subtle references to the subject of, and the continuation of the conflict between the poet and his subject. This conflict also provides another witness on the nature of the underlying subject relating the poems.

Comment’s of the poet expressing a love beyond that inspired by physical beauty I believe is easily understood in the context of a subject professing love to his female monarch. One whose physical beauty has likely very much diminished. As Elizabeth was likely now looking considerably less youthful after a her pregnancy and likely visibly aging more substantially.

Vendler observes that serving thee in line 10 is “courtier like” and remarks that the poet “can’t refrain having his heart dissuaded from its folly” without commenting on what that folly maybe. Curious to me is the failure to recognize that the poet is vassal wretch and slave as offering some indication of the relationship of the poet to the subject that is possibly more than mere metaphor given the orthodoxy’s habit of interpreting these sonnets often quite literally.

KDJ argues that poet loves subject only with heart and not with any of his five senses. As though this were really a way one might express ones love for another.