Source identified
Read & copy the quotation
“Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine;”
- Source
- To Celia
- Date
- 1616
Meaning of “Drink to me only with thine eyes, And…”
Jonson’s lyric speaker imagines exchanged looks as a sufficient pledge of affection, replacing an ordinary drinking toast with an idealized form of intimacy.
Where does it come from?
“To Celia,” first published in The Forest in 1616. The couplet belongs to a stylized Renaissance love lyric whose imagery develops through wine, nectar, kisses and a returned wreath.