Sonnet 140

Song Meaning

This sonnet opens with a plea for a lover to temper their cruelty with a touch of wisdom, urging them not to push the speaker's "tongue-tied patience" too far with "too much disdain." The speaker fears that if their sorrow becomes too great, it will force words out, words that will then reveal the depth of their "pity-wanting pain." It’s a delicate balance: the speaker wants honesty but fears the raw expression of their suffering. The central tension arises from the speaker’s desire for a clear, albeit negative, answer versus the lover’s evasiveness. The speaker wishes the lover would at least articulate their lack of love, comparing it to a sick person who only wants to hear good news, even if it's false. This suggests a preference for a painful truth over a prolonged, agonizing uncertainty. The fear is that despair will lead to madness, and in that state, the speaker might lash out with "ill" words against the lover. The most striking craft element is the speaker's pragmatic, almost legalistic, reasoning for wanting the lover to be honest. They argue that if the speaker descends into madness and slanders the lover, "mad slanderers by mad ears believed be" in this "ill-wresting world." The speaker is essentially protecting the lover from potential future accusations born of the speaker's own suffering. It’s a twisted form of loyalty, where honesty is demanded not just for the speaker's peace but to prevent the lover from being unfairly maligned. This intricate defense mechanism is what makes the sonnet so potent. The speaker isn't just begging for affection or lamenting rejection; they are strategically navigating a complex emotional minefield. By framing their plea as a way to prevent future harm to the lover, the speaker elevates their own pain and the lover's perceived indifference into a shared, albeit dysfunctional, concern. The final couplet, "Bear thine eyes straight, though thy proud heart go wide," is a masterful, ironic twist, urging the lover to maintain a facade of correctness even if their true feelings are elsewhere, mirroring the speaker's own constrained expression of pain.