"But then begins a journey in my head / To work my mind, when body's work's expired"
— Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Thomas Thorpe
Date
1609
Metaphor
"But then begins a journey in my head / To work my mind, when body's work's expired"
Metaphor in Context
Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed,
The dear respose for limbs with travel tired,
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expired.
For then my thoughts (from far where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see.
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which like a jewel (hung in ghastly night)
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo thus by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for my self, no quiet find.
The dear respose for limbs with travel tired,
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body's work's expired.
For then my thoughts (from far where I abide)
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see.
Save that my soul's imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which like a jewel (hung in ghastly night)
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.
Lo thus by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for my self, no quiet find.
Categories
Provenance
Reading Alwin Thaler's "In My Mind's Eye, Horatio." Shakespeare Quarterly. Vol. 7, No. 4 (Autumn, 1965), p. 352.
Citation
See Shake-speares Sonnets. Neuer Before Imprinted. (London: By G. Eld for T. T., 1609. <Link to Folger copy in EEBO-TCP> <Link to Huntington copy in EEBO-TCP>
Reading Helen Vendler, The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets (Cambridge and London: Harvard UP, 1997).
Reading Helen Vendler, The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets (Cambridge and London: Harvard UP, 1997).
Date of Entry
04/18/2006
