Sonnet 132

The poet praises his mistress's black eyes as surpassingly beautiful—they become her as mourning clothes suit the dawn, and he wishes her heart would mourn his suffering as much as her eyes suggest.

Original

Modern

1 Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me,

Eyes I love

I love your eyes, and they seem to pity me,

2 Knowing thy heart torment me with disdain,

knowing your heart torments me with cold rejection,

3 Have put on black, and loving mourners be,

have dressed in black and become loving mourners,

4 Looking with pretty ruth upon my pain.

looking with beautiful compassion at my suffering.

Wordplay: “ruth”

Pity, compassion. The eyes show 'pretty ruth' (attractive pity), but the heart withholds it.

5 And truly not the morning sun of heaven

And honestly, the sun rising in the sky is not,

6 Better becomes the grey cheeks of the east,

look more beautiful on the grey dawn sky than your eyes do on your face,

7 Nor that full star that ushers in the even

Nor that bright star that brings in the evening,

8 Doth half that glory to the sober west

shines half that glory to the quiet western sky

Volta The volta moves from praising how well black mourning eyes suit her face to requesting that her heart match her eyes—that cruelty be transformed into compassion.

9 As those two mourning eyes become thy face:

Mourning eyes beauty

as those black mourning eyes look on your face.

Wordplay: “mourning / mourning”

Visual mourning (the eyes' darkness) and emotional mourning (sadness for the poet). Her eyes are mourning clothes; he wants her heart to mourn him.

10 O let it then as well beseem thy heart

O let your heart then be equally graced,

11 To mourn for me since mourning doth thee grace,

to mourn for me, since mourning makes you beautiful,

12 And suit thy pity like in every part.

and make your compassion consistent in every way.

13 Then will I swear beauty herself is black,

Then I shall proclaim that true beauty must be black,

14 And all they foul that thy complexion lack.

and all those ugly who lack your dark complexion.

Beauty as Correspondence to Mood

The sonnet argues that the Dark Lady's black eyes 'suit' her perfectly—they are becoming not despite their darkness but because they express mourning. This is a radically modern aesthetic: beauty consists in authenticity of feeling, not in conformity to an ideal. Her eyes are beautiful because they truthfully register her emotional state. This contrasts with the artificial beauty of cosmetics attacked in Sonnet 127.

The Transformative Power of Sympathy

The poem's request is subtle: let your heart mourn for me as your eyes suggest you understand pain. The poet is asking the Dark Lady to extend her apparent empathy into action. The beauty of her mournful eyes is incomplete unless it motivates compassion. This reveals the sonnet's actual negotiation: admiring her even as asking her to feel differently, to care for him. The poem flatters and petitions simultaneously.

If this happened today

Like finding someone's vulnerability and slight sadness more attractive than confidence. The poem romanticizes melancholy: her eyes suggest she understands pain (even if she causes his), and that understanding is more beautiful than any smile. It's the appeal of shared emotional damage.

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