This is by far my favorite sonnet, but that’s just because I’m a pianist. When I first read this sonnet (a loooong time ago), I fell in love with it. It was Shakespeare. It was about music. It was about a musician. And it was about the narrator falling in love with the performer.
To summarize, it is about a woman playing a keyboard instrument (likely a clavichord or virginal). The narrator shows his jealousy of the keys because they are able to touch her fingers, but he concludes that he would rather kiss her lips. In this sonnet, Shakespeare uses a lot of imagery that can be taken various ways. However, I’d like to focus on just one word, “jacks,” on line 5. The word “jacks” has a lot of definitions, like a name for random men, like a car-jack, like the game… Out of curiosity, I checked wikipedia - it translated this line to imply there were other men present, dancing to the music the woman was playing, and later “kiss the tender inward of thy hand.” However, I interpret “jacks” to be the keys of the virginal. The first thing that would give this away is the “kiss the tender inward.” Wouldn’t it be more proper to kiss the back of the hand? Other clues are that Shakespeare only ever speaks about the keys of the virginal – the blessed wood (line 2), chips (a common term for keys at the time, line 10), dead wood (last line), and of course, frequent mention of fingers. I'm curious to know what others think - are the "jacks" that Shakespeare refers to keys of the virginal, or do you think they are something else?
How oft, when thou, my music, music play'st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips.
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway'st
The wiry concord that mine ear confounds,
Do I envy those jacks that nimble leap
To kiss the tender inward of thy hand,
Whilst my poor lips, which should that harvest reap,
At the wood's boldness by thee blushing stand!
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with those dancing chips,
O'er whom thy fingers walk with gentle gait,
Making dead wood more blest than living lips.
Since saucy jacks so happy are in this,
Give them thy fingers, me thy lips to kiss.
I hadn't thought of it this way but I do like your interpretation.To answer your question I went on Wikipedia to look up "virginals" (I didn't know what it was). This was part of the definition "The mechanism of the virginals is identical to that of the harpsichord in that its wire strings are plucked by plectra mounted in jacks". So, while I agree that is he talking about the instrument, I don't think it's the actual keys but the thing she holds in her hand. That would also explain the "to kiss thy tender inward of thy hand".
ReplyDeleteI think the “jacks” are the keys as the part of her hand, which would touch the piano keyboard, would be the “inward” of her hand. I interrupt Shakespeare saying that he is jealous of the keys as they are the ones that are kissing the underside of her hands when really it should be his lips doing the touching and kissing.
ReplyDeleteThough at first it appears as though Shakespeare is jealous of the keys (and he is), but at the end of the sonnet, he's saying that, since the "jacks" are satisfied with your fingers, then they can have your fingers- but give ME your lips. So yes, he is jealous of the keys, but he's willing to give the keys her fingers if he can have the lips.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great sonnet. I agree that the jacks are the keys. It is amazing how Shakespeare can use words to describe music that so beautifully and really give the sonnet a calming tone. This is where punctuation comes into play as well. The use of commas in the beginning of the sonnet slow down the poem and give it a thoughtful and sincere mood.
ReplyDeletei thought this was a lovely synopsis of the sonnet and i do think that fifth line is particularly rich with imagery and meaning. not being a musician i would just think Shakespeare was jealous of the other men, or jacks, who danced with her and kissed her fingers; but your rumination highlighted the double meaning of the word and really how i saw the poem in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI would have never read the sonnet this way prior to reading your post! It was interesting to read it over again and realize all the different meanings that were brought up because of your explanation. I didn't know much about instruments so when I read this, I wasn't quite sure what you were referring to until I read the previous comments. I agree with all of the above comments that the inner parts of her hand are getting "kissed" by the instrument and that he was no longer jealous at the end of the sonnet because he got her lips.
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