SONNET 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Sonnet 130 is the poet's pragmatic tribute to his uncomely mistress,
commonly referred to as the dark lady because of her dun complexion. The
dark lady, who ultimately betrays the poet, appears in sonnets 127 to 154.
Sonnet 130 is clearly a parody of the conventional love sonnet, made
popular by Petrarch and, in particular, made popular in England by Sidney's
use of the Petrarchan form in his epic poem Astrophel and Stella.
If you compare the stanzas of Astrophel and Stella to Sonnet 130, you will
see exactly what elements of the conventional love sonnet Shakespeare is
light-heartedly mocking. In Sonnet 130, there is no use of grandiose
metaphor or allusion; he does not compare his love to Venus, there is no
evocation to Morpheus, etc. The ordinary beauty and humanity of his lover
are important to Shakespeare in this sonnet, and he deliberately uses
typical love poetry metaphors against themselves.
In Sidney's work, for example, the features of the poet's lover are as
beautiful and, at times, more beautiful than the finest pearls, diamonds,
rubies, and silk. In Sonnet 130, the references to such objects of perfection
are indeed present, but they are there to illustrate that his lover is not as
beautiful -- a total rejection of Petrarch form and content. Shakespeare
utilizes a new structure, through which the straightforward theme of his
, lover’s simplicity can be developed in the three quatrains and neatly
concluded in the final couplet.
Thus, Shakespeare is using all the techniques available, including the
sonnet structure itself, to enhance his parody of the traditional Petrarchan
sonnet typified by Sidney’s work. But Shakespeare ends the sonnet by
proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of adornment, so he
does finally embrace the fundamental theme in Petrarch's sonnets: total
and consuming love.
One final note: To Elizabethan readers, Shakespeare's comparison of hair
to 'wires' would refer to the finely-spun gold threads woven into fancy hair
nets. Many poets of the time used this term as a benchmark of beauty,
including Spenser:
SUMMARY
Sonnet 130 is like a love poem turned on its head. Usually, if you were
talking about your beloved, you would go out of your way to praise her,
to point all the ways that she is the best. In this case,
though, Shakespeare spends this poem comparing his mistress's
appearance to other things, and then telling us how she doesn't measure
up to them. He goes through a whole laundry list, giving us details about
the flaws of her body, her smell, even the sound of her voice. Then,
Line 1
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Here we are introduced for the first time to the main character in this poem,
the speaker's "mistress."
Today, when we use the word "mistress," it's usually to refer to a woman who
is dating a married man. In Shakespeare, though, it was more general, like
"my love" or "my darling."
The speaker jumps right into his anti-love poem, letting us know that this
lady's eyes aren't like the sun. Well, so what? We wouldn't really expect them
to be, would we?
As we read the next few lines though, we see that the comparison is a
standard way of praising a beautiful woman in a poem. It's like saying, "her
eyes are like sapphires."
Our speaker is refusing to fall back on clichés though, instead telling us that
this simile doesn't apply at all.
Line 2
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Sonnet 130 is the poet's pragmatic tribute to his uncomely mistress,
commonly referred to as the dark lady because of her dun complexion. The
dark lady, who ultimately betrays the poet, appears in sonnets 127 to 154.
Sonnet 130 is clearly a parody of the conventional love sonnet, made
popular by Petrarch and, in particular, made popular in England by Sidney's
use of the Petrarchan form in his epic poem Astrophel and Stella.
If you compare the stanzas of Astrophel and Stella to Sonnet 130, you will
see exactly what elements of the conventional love sonnet Shakespeare is
light-heartedly mocking. In Sonnet 130, there is no use of grandiose
metaphor or allusion; he does not compare his love to Venus, there is no
evocation to Morpheus, etc. The ordinary beauty and humanity of his lover
are important to Shakespeare in this sonnet, and he deliberately uses
typical love poetry metaphors against themselves.
In Sidney's work, for example, the features of the poet's lover are as
beautiful and, at times, more beautiful than the finest pearls, diamonds,
rubies, and silk. In Sonnet 130, the references to such objects of perfection
are indeed present, but they are there to illustrate that his lover is not as
beautiful -- a total rejection of Petrarch form and content. Shakespeare
utilizes a new structure, through which the straightforward theme of his
, lover’s simplicity can be developed in the three quatrains and neatly
concluded in the final couplet.
Thus, Shakespeare is using all the techniques available, including the
sonnet structure itself, to enhance his parody of the traditional Petrarchan
sonnet typified by Sidney’s work. But Shakespeare ends the sonnet by
proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of adornment, so he
does finally embrace the fundamental theme in Petrarch's sonnets: total
and consuming love.
One final note: To Elizabethan readers, Shakespeare's comparison of hair
to 'wires' would refer to the finely-spun gold threads woven into fancy hair
nets. Many poets of the time used this term as a benchmark of beauty,
including Spenser:
SUMMARY
Sonnet 130 is like a love poem turned on its head. Usually, if you were
talking about your beloved, you would go out of your way to praise her,
to point all the ways that she is the best. In this case,
though, Shakespeare spends this poem comparing his mistress's
appearance to other things, and then telling us how she doesn't measure
up to them. He goes through a whole laundry list, giving us details about
the flaws of her body, her smell, even the sound of her voice. Then,
Line 1
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Here we are introduced for the first time to the main character in this poem,
the speaker's "mistress."
Today, when we use the word "mistress," it's usually to refer to a woman who
is dating a married man. In Shakespeare, though, it was more general, like
"my love" or "my darling."
The speaker jumps right into his anti-love poem, letting us know that this
lady's eyes aren't like the sun. Well, so what? We wouldn't really expect them
to be, would we?
As we read the next few lines though, we see that the comparison is a
standard way of praising a beautiful woman in a poem. It's like saying, "her
eyes are like sapphires."
Our speaker is refusing to fall back on clichés though, instead telling us that
this simile doesn't apply at all.
Line 2
