Sonnet 130 is the poet's tribute to his unknown mistress, commonly referred to the dark lady because of her dun complexion and it is clearly a parody of the conventional love sonnet.

This Sonnet is divided into two main parts: three quatrain and one couplet (distico).

In the first part the Poet himself describe all the negative qualities of his mistress like "her eyes are nothing like the sun,".

In the second part he tell us that he love her precisely for the reason of her rarity. "my love as rare,"

Exercise

Page 110

1.

The sonnet is dedicated to the dark lady. The dark lady is comparable to Petrarch's woman with human characteristics. The dark lady is a mysterious figure and probably the Poet's mistress.

2.

a)
Love of the courtly tradition was seen as a knightly quest for the beloved. It is natural, then, that the love was often unrequited, and was an almost unattainable ideal. The poets presented love in a refined and stylized manner, using every dimension of the beauty of language and the expression of music.

In this Sonnet the mistress is not represented or idealised like something very beautiful. She is seen as a ugly person but in the same time rare and therefore loved.

b)
The conventional features of idealised ladies must have been: eyes like the sun, lips red as Cora is, white complexion, cheeks like Roses, perfumed breath, a voice like Music, a walk like a goddess.

c)
Poet's feelings for his mistress:
"I love to hear her speak,"
" love as rare"

d)
Sonnet CXXX is a parody of conventional courtly sonnets.

3.
The rhyme scheme for the poem is a b a b c d c d e f e f g g.
It coincide with the end of quartrains.