sonnet 24

Sonnet 24
William Shakespeare

Mine eye hath played the painter and hath steeled
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart.
My body is the frame wherein 'tis held,
And perspective it is best 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 glazèd 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, wherethrough 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.

Within "Sonnet 24", Shakespeare compares the beauty of an individual to beauty interpreted by the speaker, reflecting the truth of beauty that exists in the individual and the lack of true beauty in his own evaluation.

In the first quatrain, the narrator equates his own body as a painter and the depiction of the individual's beauty as his artwork. As the speakers' eyes play the part of the painter, it's as if the speaker is attempting to capture the beauty of the individual through sight. This emphasis on strictly sight establishes the idea that the one to whom the poem is addressed has only visual beauty, focusing more on appearance. The image of beauty is said to be in "table of [his] heart" (2), expressing the idea that the individual's beauty has permanently left an impression on the speaker. By describing perspective as "best painter's art" (4), the speaker is suggesting that the most skilled artist is the one who is able to most realistically and accurately portray the beauty of the individual. 

By the second quatrain, the speaker continues to emphasize the true beauty as shown through the eyes as opposed to represented through other forms. As he refers to his eye as the "painter" (1), the speaker indicates that the most skilled artist would be his eyes as they are the only things that truly take in the beauty of the individual. The "true image" (6) of the individual's beauty is said to lie in the speaker's "bosom's shop" (7), referring to his heart upon which the beauty is impressed. By mentioning "windows glazèd with thine eyes" (8), the speaker is putting emphasis on the transparency of his heart as if looking onto his love for the individual is as simple as looking through the windows of a shop. In this case, it appears as though the individual's beauty is also reflected onto the speaker himself, making him beautiful as well.

The speaker highlights helpful qualities of both his eyes and the eyes of the individual as well as the almost divine beauty of the individual in the third quatrain. He illustrates the "good turns" (9) that his eyes have provided as their drawing the individual's shape, placing his gratefulness for his eyes upon the fact that they have allowed him to see the individual's beauty. For the eyes of the individual, he's thankful for their acting as "windows to [his] breast" (11), as if by looking through the individual's eyes, the speaker is able to see his own love reflected back at him. As the sun "Delights to peep" (12) through the windows, the speaker uses imagery to cast importance onto the individual. The sun's rays shine upon the individual as a reflection of the beauty that radiates onto the speaker, providing almost a sense of enlightenment in which the truth is found through the window.

A turn occurs after the last quatrain and before the couplet as the speaker suggests that the eyes do not have the power to convey the true beauty of the individual as would the heart. As the eyes simply "draw but what they see" (13), the speaker implies that eyes are limited to drawing the physical representations of beauty rather than the emotional backing of beauty. As the heart symbolizes love and emotions associated with love, the heart can capture the true beauty that the eyes cannot.