My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;                 A
Coral is far more red than her lips' red.                        B
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun¹;          A
If hairs be wires², black wires grow on her head.           B
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,               C
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;                         D
And in some perfumes there is more delight                C
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.           D
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know                        E
That music hath a far more pleasing sound.                  F
I grant ³I never saw a goddess go:                                  E
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.      F
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare                   G
As any she belied⁴with false compare.                          G

Analysis

This sonnet follows the rules of the Elizabethan sonnet: it is composed by three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The title makes me understand it belongs to a collection because it is part of the first line of the poem. This is the sonnet 130 by william Shakespeare.  The rhyme scheme is ABAB , CDCD ,EFEF , GG. Shakespeare is making the parody of courtly love poetry that underlines only the marvellous characteristics of angelic womans.

Sonnet 130 starts with  a surprising simile: 'My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun'. We might normally expect a simile like "'My mistress' eyes shine like the sun". But Shakespeare is not going to follow the tipical conventions and he is going to make exaggerated comparisons. He takes distances from the tipical conventions adressing the sonnet to a different kind of woman that is more realistic and someone that you can meet in everyday life. Besides creating the figure of the woman only using words , Shakespeare uses the language of sense impression; he appeals to sight, hearing and smell. This choice makes the woman more realistic and readers can feel her closer.

Colours are focused on first: 'Coral is far more red than her lips' red' tells us that lips have not a bright red colour. Than the poet focused on the pale skin but Shakespeare's mistress had dun-coloured breasts, dun being quite a dark colour. After that the poet describes hair;It seems that she did not have soft, sleek hair, in fact her hair are like "wires", long thin peaces of metal. The speaker says he has seen roses "damasked", but he sees no such roses in his mistress's cheeks. Her breath is unpleasant .At line 9 shakespeare gives the first compliment: 'I love to hear her speak' but music has more pleasing sound than her voice and when that woman walk is nothing like a goddess but she is very heavy. Shakespeare wants the reader understand that the woman he loves is nothing like an angel, she isn't perfect, she hasn't blond hair and blue eyes.  The rhetorical structure of Sonnet 130 is marvellous. In the rhyming couplet Shakespeare says that in spite of all the defects, he genuinely loves his mistress: 'I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare.' Appearances are not what matter where true love is concerned. Shakespeare loves a realistic and common woman with all her defects.

Focus on vocabulary

¹Dun: greyish-brown

²Wires : long thin peaces of metal

³Grant : to accept that something is true

⁴Belied : to give a false idea of someone to describe by lies

Does the poet describe the woman he loves in the conventional way?

He takes distances from the tipical conventions adressing the sonnet to a different kind of woman that is more realistic and someone that you can meet in everyday life.

Focus on language

What is the rhyme scheme? It is the same as in petrarchan sonnet?

The ryhme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The sonnet is composed by 3 quatrains and a final rhyming couplet. The petrarchan sonnet's rhyme scheme is ABBA ACCA DEE EFF and it is composed by an octave and a sestet.

Note down which of the five senses the poet refers to.

 Besides creating the figure of the woman only using words , Shakespeare uses the language of sense impression; he appeals to sight, hearing and smell. This choice makes the woman more realistic and readers can feel her closer.

SIGHT: lines 1-2-3-4-5-6

SMELL: lines 7-8

HEARING: lines 9-10

Focus on the word "yet" and "think". What do they draw attention to?

The words yet and think draw attention to "my love as rare"

What does the poet refer to with the final words "false compare"?

With the final words ‘false compare' the poet underlines that the woman that Petrarch describes doesn't exist.

What is the meaning of the final couplet?

With the final couplet the poet wants to underline that true love is not a perfect love like courtly love.

Widen your appreciation of this sonnet by reading the critical extract below. Do you agree with this  interpretation? 

This sonnet is called anti-Petrarchean, in fact Shakespeare is making the parody of the courtly love describing what true love is.