Sonnet 47
1. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
2. And each doth good turns now unto the other.
3. When that mine eye is famish'd for a look,
4. Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother;
5. With my love's picture then my eye doth feast,
6. And to the painted banquet bids my heart:
7. Another time mine eye is my heart's guest,
8. And in his thoughts of love doth share a part.
9. So, either by thy picture or my love,
10. Thyself away, art resent still with me,
11. For thou nor farther than my thoughts canst move,
12. And I am still with them and they with thee.
13. Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
14. Awakes my heart to heart's and eye's delight.
My Love's Picture
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Explaining that though his eye and heart can’t be in the same place in reference to Elizabeth that he has remembrance of her yet. Thus when he seeks to see her he looks on her portrait and when he seeks to remember the love for her, his heart provides the relief though it also is likely an allusion that he has he has Henry as a reminder. That there are times he tells her that his heart provides the thoughts of love but again also likely alludes to Henry’s own thoughts of for her, which are reminders of her as well. Or if he sleeps, his eye and heart both can experience the joy she brings. Thus there is never any time she is not present with him whether it be from her picture or her presence in his thoughts or in his dreams.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Expressing to Elizabeth the separation between how his vision of her is facilitated versus his reminder of his love for her and the smooth transition and or favor that is made between them. Also that his heart relies on the relief he (the heart presumably) gets when Oxford thinks of Elizabeth in line 4.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Explaining the details of how her picture is where his eye goes and his heart tags along and receives some sustenance in lines 5 and 6. While when his heart is the primary seeker, his eye receives reminders as well, of love expressed by his heart for Elizabeth. Pronoun his refers to heart but also meant to allude to Henry also loving her very likely.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Thus Oxford tells Elizabeth that she (art) is with him despite the physical distance between them (alluded to earlier with the league of line 1). And his thoughts can break this barrier much more quickly.
couplet (13-14),
And that by dreaming of her both his eye and heart are rewared
Commentary:
This sonnet likely forms a pair with 46, in this sonnet his eye and heart cooperate and work together to provide remembrances of Elizabeth though Oxford has now removed himself from Court life likely and is living in his house in Hackney. This sonnet provides important biographical information in this sense of the poet being removed from his love which corresponds to Oxford’s . My guess is that the league mentioned in line 1 was the approximate distance (about 3.5 miles) of Oxford’s house from London. Though Oxford is likely now married and living away I believe he still felt Elizabeth was susceptible to expression of his love. He after all carried out his initial affair with Elizabeth while married to the Lord Treasurer’s daughter.
While commonly understood as a contrast between the real and imagined, this sonnet again suffers a traditional understanding of believing the youth is the subject of these sonnets. Such an understanding clearly implies the youth is the love of the poet. Understandable if these sonnets express a same sex relationship often believed by some as being a part of the sonnets. Others though correctly understand that the man alive during the publishing of these sonnets would not have publicly expressed such a love and nor do I believe would the man who actually wrote them.