Sonnet 8
Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
music
harmony
family
procreation
Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy.
Why lovest thou that which thou receivest not gladly,
Or else receivest with pleasure thine annoy?
If the true concord of well-tuned sounds,
By unions married, do offend thine ear,
They do but sweetly chide thee, who confounds
In singleness the parts that thou shouldst bear.
Mark how one string, sweet husband to another,
Strikes each in each by mutual ordering,
Resembling sire and child and happy mother
Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing:
Whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
Sings this to thee: 'thou single wilt prove none.'
What It Means
The young man finds music sad, and Shakespeare asks why. The answer: because music demonstrates exactly what he refuses to do. Strings playing in harmony are like a family — husband, wife, and child sounding as one. Each instrument is better for being part of the whole. But the young man plays alone, refusing to combine with another person. The conclusion is wry: you hear a single, joyless note. If you had a family, you'd hear a chord.
Context
Eighth in the Procreation sequence. The musical metaphor is unusual within the sequence and shows Shakespeare varying his approach across the group.
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