Sonnet 132: Thine Eyes I Love, And They, As Pitying Me Comments

This sonnet takes up again the theme of 127, that his mistress's eyes, being black, seem to be in mourning. But whereas in the earlier sonnet they seemed to be mourning for the fact that most beauty was feigned, concocted and cosmetic, now they are pitying the poet himself, but for what is never quite made clear. Traditionally the Petrarchan sonneteer bewailed the fact that his mistress was cold and aloof and refused to respond to his amorous advances. Therefore he was forever desirous of pity for being sexually unsatisfied, although he would never state the matter quite so crudely.

... In the context of what follows in sonnets 133 & 134, in which the poet implies that his friend has been hooked by this Siren mistress, and that he himself is betrayed, the pity might be required simply because he, the poet, has been put on one side. But in 135 & 136, the main theme of which seems to be sexual intercourse and the fact that he is not getting enough of it, the pity would seem to be required as consolation for his never ending frustrations There is probably a partial element of satire in all this, a satire of the sonnet tradition and of beauty's comparisons (the sun, the evening star etc.) . The poet will not declare why the pity is needed, but he enjoys the twist in the end, that the beauty who is denying him all this is both black and not black, fair and not fair, foul and not foul, wicked and not wicked, all at the same time. Most of the dark lady sonnets work simultaneously on a number of different levels. This one glides easily between the worlds of visual description, sexual innuendo, moral criticism, emotional entanglement and social commentary, without firmly setting a foot in any one of them. shakespeares-sonnets.com/sonnet/

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