1. Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly,
2. Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
3. Why lovest thou that which thou receivest not gladly,
4. Or else receivest with pleasure thine annoy?
5. If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
6. By unions married, do offend thine ear,
7. They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
8. In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear:
9. Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
10. Strikes each in each by mutual ordering:
11. Resembling sire, and child, and happy mother,
12. Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
13. Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
14. Sings this to thee: 'thou single wilt prove none.'
Seeming One
Dedication: To Elizabeth
Using the metaphor of music to ask Elizabeth why she treats what should be joyous (having a son), sadly. Further asking why she loves Henry if she didn’t want him, or else received him with pleasure but yet finds his presence annoying. Continuing with the music metaphor asks if the piece created by the three of them do not appear to her liking, perhaps it is because they are too present reminders of her singular purpose. Finishing with the reminder of her continuing to remain single will ultimately sing to none and thus have no purpose.
1st Quatrain: (1-4)
Telling Elizabeth Henry is sweet music and asking her why she hears his music sadly in line 1. Telling her that Henry is a joy in line 2. Asking her why she loves Henry whom she has received unhappily or why the pleasure of him annoys her in lines 3 and 4.
2nd Quatrain: (5-8)
Explaining to her that if the music produced by their union offends her with a reference to their marriage in lines 5 and 6. Telling her that if the music of this marriage irritates her it is because it is so out of sync with her own insistance on keeping Henry hidden and never admitting to Oxford's and her union in lines 7 and 8.
3rd Quatrain: (9-12)
Using the very well fitting metaphor of the music made by the happy mother, the sweet husband, and the child to refer to the real truth about the three people that are the subject of these poems.
couplet (13-14),
Using the allusion of Elizabeth seeming one and hiding the other two, thus producing this musical metaphore to recognize Henry.