07/11/2020

MY MISTRESS’ EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN – A COMMENTARY

The sonnet is a lyrical form of poetry therefore, it speaks about intimate feelings, problems, doubts. The sonnet is organised into fourteen lines. The English sonnet is the result of the gradual transformation from the Petrarchan model to the English sonnet, which is generally called either the Shakespearian sonnet or the Elizabethan sonnet because it developed during the Elizabethan Age.

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun. This is sonnet belongs to the sequence dedicated to the “dark lady”. It represents a clear example of Shakespeare’s reversal of the canons of the traditional love sonnet.

In this sonnet Shakespeare describes the "dark lady", that is a woman with rude behaviours and an appearance that is anything but beautiful. Shakespeare makes many comparisons between a woman's physical characteristics and natural elements, and the woman is always seen for the worse. But with this sonnet he wants to make it clear that the most important thing is to see the soul of a person.