Notes for Shakespeare's Sonnet 24


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24

1. stell'd: placed, fixed.

2. table: wooden panel on which a picture is painted.

4. perspective: either an optical device through which the painter looks at the object, or the technique of composition used to produce the illusion of three-dimensional depth. —I don't understand line four. If "perspective" means "optical device," I don't see how the line makes any good sense at all. If "perspective" means "art of suggesting three dimensions," then the line might mean "perspective is the highest reach of the art of the best painter," with the "it" used only to add emphasis. However, the first three lines say that the speaker's eyes have painted a picture of his beloved in the speaker's heart, and his body is the frame for that picture, so it seems that the fourth line, which concludes the sentence and the quatrain, should continue the conceit.

5-8.
For through the painter must you see his skill,
To find where your true image pictur'd lies;
Which in my bosom's shop is hanging still,
That hath his windows glazed with thine eyes.
—I think this means, metaphorically, "only by looking into my heart, and seeing yourself as I see you, can you know how beautiful you are."

13. cunning: skill. want: lack. grace: beautify, bless.