This is a short summary of Shakespeare sonnet 148. Continue reading for complete analysis and meaning in the modern text. For the complete list of 154 sonnets, check the collection of Shakespeare Sonnets with analysis. It is highly recommended to buy “The Monument” by Hank Whittemore, which is the best book on Shakespeare Sonnets.
Shakespeare Sonnet 148 (Original Text)
O me! what eyes hath love put in my head,
–WIKI
Which have no correspondence with true sight!
Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled,
That censures falsely what they see aright?
If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,
What means the world to say it is not so?
If it be not, then love doth well denote
Love’s eye is not so true as all men’s: no,
How can it? O how can love’s eye be true,
That is so vexed with watching and with tears?
No marvel then, though I mistake my view;
The sun itself sees not till heaven clears.
O cunning love! With tears thou keep’st me blind,
Lest eyes well seeing thy foul faults should find.
Shakespeare Sonnet 148 Modern Text (Translation)
Shakespeare Sonnet 148 Analysis
The poet laments about himself asking himself what type of way has love influences his eyesight “O me! what eyes hath love put in my head,” because he does not see anything correctly “Which have no correspondence with true sight!” and if at all they see, then he asks where has his sense of judgment gone “Or, if they have, where is my judgment fled,” because he criticizes wrongly whatever he sees “That censures falsely what they see aright?”
He asks if his woman whom his eyes likes to look at is fair “If that be fair whereon my false eyes dote,” why is the rest of the world not agreeing with him “What means the world to say it is not so? “And if she really isn’t, then it means a person in love “If it be not, then love doth well denote” doesn’t not see accurately like other men “Love’s eye is not so true as all men’s: no,”
He asks how can love’s eyes be true “How can it? O how can love’s eye be true,” when it is so frustrated by watching his mistress and crying “That is so vexed with watching and with tears?”He says that obviously what he sees is not true “No marvel then, though I mistake my view;” just like the sun who cannot see itself till the skies are clear “The sun itself sees not till heaven clears.”
He calls love cunning saying it has blinded him with tears “O cunning love! With tears thou keep’st me blind,” to prevent him from finding out his lovers faults if he saw properly “Lest eyes well seeing thy foul faults should find.”