Note 113a — VIII—THE BORROWED CONCEITS OF THE SONNETS

A similar conceit is the topic of Shakespeare’s Sonnet xxiv. Ronsard’s Ode (livre iv. No. xx.) consists of a like dialogue between the heart and the eye. The conceit is traceable to Petrarch, whose Sonnet lv. or lxiii. (‘Occhi, piangete, accompagnate il core’) is a dialogue between the poet and his eyes, while his Sonnet xcix. or cxvii. is a companion dialogue between the poet and his heart. Cf. Watson’s Tears of Fancie, xix. xx. (a pair of sonnets on the theme which closely resemble Shakespeare’s pair); Drayton’s Idea, xxxiii.; Barnes’s Parthenophe and Parthenophil, xx., and Constable’s Diana, vi. 7.