Sonnet 113
Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
perception
love
absence
imagination
Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;
And that which governs me to go about
Doth part his function and is partly blind,
Seems seeing, but effectually is out;
For it no form delivers to the heart
Of bird of flower, or shape, which it doth latch:
Of his quick objects hath the mind no part,
Nor his own vision holds what it doth catch:
For if it see the rudest or gentlest sight,
The most sweet favour or deformed'st creature,
The mountain or the sea, the day or night,
The crow or dove, it shapes them to your feature:
Incapable of more, replete with you,
My most true mind thus makes mine eye untrue.
What It Means
Since leaving the young man, Shakespeare's eye has stopped working properly. It feeds information to his mind but the mind sees only the young man's image. Everything he looks at, he sees the young man. Whether he sees a gentle or a rude face, his 'most true mind' makes it look like the young man. Love has distorted his perception completely.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence, during a period of separation.
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