By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
We swap the visual imagery of the previous sonnet for a musical theme in Sonnet 8, as the opening line (‘Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?’) makes clear. What follows is a short summary and analysis of Sonnet 8 in terms of its language and meaning.
Music to hear, why hear’st thou music sadly?
Sweets with sweets war not, joy delights in joy:
Why lov’st thou that which thou receiv’st not gladly,
Or else receiv’st 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.