Analysis of sonnet 130

Sonnet 130 belongs to the sequence dedicated to the “dark lady”, so Shakespeare is not going to follow the typical convention of courtly love poetry but he is making a parody of it , because usually poetry underlines only the marvellous characteristics of angelic women, not realistic ones.

Considering the structure the sonnet is organised into three quatrains and a rhyming couplet so the reader can understand he / she is in front of the Elizabethan model. The rhyme scheme is ABAB – CDCD – EFEF - GG

Right from the title the reader can see the possessive pronoun “my” and the alliterative sound of “m”, that underlines the speaking voice is completely involved by his “mistress”. This gives the idea of a close and passionate relationship between the speaking voice and the adressee

In the first quatrain the speaking voice connotes in a negative way his mistress, he says that: sun is more beautiful than her eyes, coral is more red than her lips, her breasts are dun and her hair are black wires. Colours are very important in this quatrain because the speaking voice compels all the woman's aspects to colours. 

Besides creating the figure of the woman only using words, the poet uses the language of sense impression indeed in the first six lines the reader finds the sense of the sight, in lines seven and eight the sense of the smell and in lines nine and ten the sense of the hearing. In this way the reader feels the woman more realistic and closer.

In the second quatrain the speaking voice goes on connoting with negative qualities the lady “but no such roses damasked’see I in her cheeks”, “in the breath that from my mistress reeks”.

The third quatrain presents the turning point of the poem because at line 9 there is the first compliment  “I love to hear her speak” even if after that he says music has more pleasing sound than her voice and when the lady walks is nothing like a goddess but she is very heavy. 

In the last two lines the poet says that his love is rare so he genuinely loves his mistress. Shakespeare loves a realistic woman with all her defect even if she is not perfect or an angel.  This means that appearances don’t matter where true love is concerned.