Sonnet 24
Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
vision
love
art
beauty
Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart;
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,
And perspective it is the painter's art.
For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictured lies;
Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.
Now see what good turns eyes for eyes have done:
Mine eyes have drawn thy shape, and thine for me
Are windows to my breast, where-through the sun
Delights to peep, to gaze therein on thee;
Yet eyes this cunning want to grace their art;
They draw but what they see, know not the heart.
What It Means
The eye is a painter, and the young man's image has been painted onto Shakespeare's heart. His heart is the frame. But the eye that painted the image needs light to see what it has made — and only the young man's eyes can provide that light. The conceit is elaborate: eyes are windows into the heart, and you need the original subject's gaze to illuminate the portrait within you.
Context
Part of the Fair Youth sequence. The visual arts metaphor connects to Sonnet 23's failure to speak — now image substitutes for words.
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