Sonnet 137

Love has blinded the poet's judgment, making him see the Dark Lady as beautiful when his eyes and heart know she is ugly by every standard—a willing embrace of delusion.

Original
Modern
1 Thou blind fool Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
Love's blindness
Blind fool Love, what are you doing to my eyes,
2 That they behold and see not what they see?
That they look at things but don't understand what they're seeing?
3 They know what beauty is, see where it lies,
They know what real beauty is, they can see where it lives,
4 Yet what the best is, take the worst to be.
Yet they mistake what is worst to be what is best.
5 If eyes corrupt by over-partial looks,
If eyes become corrupted by looking too favorably on one,
6 Be anchored in the bay where all men ride,
Are fixed upon a place where everyone travels through,
Wordplay: “anchored in the bay where all men ride”

Her sexuality is a harbor where all ships anchor. His heart is anchored to a faithless woman.

7 Why of eyes’ falsehood hast thou forged hooks,
Why have you forged false traps from the eye's deception,
8 Whereto the judgement of my heart is tied?
To which the judgment of my heart is bound?
Volta The volta shifts from blaming Love for corrupting perception to blaming the heart and eyes themselves for active complicity in the delusion.
9 Why should my heart think that a several plot,
The corrupted heart
Why should my heart believe that something is unique and private,
Wordplay: “several plot / common place”

She is a 'several plot' (exclusive, private property) but he knows she's 'common place' (a common prostitute, owned by many). He chooses the lie of exclusivity.

10 Which my heart knows the wide world’s common place?
Which my heart knows is really the world's common place?
11 Or mine eyes seeing this, say this is not
Or do my eyes, seeing this, simply say it is not
12 To put fair truth upon so foul a face?
To place beautiful truth upon such a foul face?
13 In things right true my heart and eyes have erred,
In things truly right my heart and eyes have both failed,
14 And to this false plague are they now transferred.
And to this false sickness they are now surrendered.
The Prisoner of Perception

The sonnet uses imprisonment metaphors throughout: eyes 'anchored' in the bay, heart's 'judgement' is 'tied' by hooks. The poet is held captive not by the Dark Lady directly but by his own corrupted sensory apparatus. He can see what is true (she is not beautiful, her face is foul) yet simultaneously sees her as beautiful. This duplicity of vision is the poem's central horror—not that he is deceived but that he is complicit in the deception.

Reason vs. Passion

The couplet—'In things right true my heart and eyes have erred, / And to this false plague are they now transferred'—suggests that the poet has become emotionally infected. The false perception is a contagion, a 'plague' spreading from the Dark Lady to his sensory organs. Yet he remains infected willingly. The poem is one of Shakespeare's most powerful descriptions of how desire warps consciousness.

If this happened today

Like knowing objectively that someone is bad for you but finding them attractive anyway, and hating yourself for it. The poem captures the self-aware lover who cannot trust his own perception because desire has colonized his judgment. He sees the truth and chooses the lie.