Sonnet XLVII - Betwixt mine eye | Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is...

Language: English

Our translations: ITA

Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took,
And each doth good turns now unto the other:
When that mine eye is famish'd for a look,
Or heart in love with sighs himself doth smother,
With my love's picture then my eye doth feast
And to the painted banquet bids my heart;
Another time mine eye is my heart's guest
And in his thoughts of love doth share a part:
So, either by thy picture or my love,
Thyself away art resent still with me;
For thou not farther than my thoughts canst move,
And I am still with them and they with thee;
  Or, if they sleep, thy picture in my sight
  Awakes my heart to heart's and eye's delight.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in Sonnets, no. 47 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895 - 1968), "Sonnet XLVII - Betwixt mine eye", op. 125 (Shakespeare Sonnets), Heft 4 no. 4 (1963) [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Richard Simpson (1820 - 1876), "Sonnet XLVII", 1865 [ duet for soprano and alto with piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
by Lex Zwaap (1919 - 1988), as Lex van Delden, "Betwixt mine eye and heart", op. 72 (Drie sonnetten van Shakespeare) no. 2 (1961) [ contralto and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title, appears in Sonnets de Shakespeare, no. 47, first published 1857

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-07-25
Line count: 14
Word count: 122