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.
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.
Although Shakespeare's sonnets can be divided into different sections numerous ways, In his 154 sonnets the most apparent division involves Sonnets 1–126, in which the poet strikes up a relationship with a young man, and Sonnets 127–154, which are concerned with the poet's relationship with a woman, variously referred to as the Dark Lady, or as his mistress.
Poem
Sonnet 130 is Shakespeare's rather lackluster tribute to his Lady, commonly referred to asthe dark lady because she seems to be non-white (black wires for hair, etc). The dark lady, who ultimately betrays the poet by loving other men, appears in sonnets 127 to 154. Sonnet 130 is clearly a parody of the conventional and traditional 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 any of the stanzas of that poem with Shakespeare's 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 what is 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: Shakespeare's reference to hair as 'wires' confuses modern readers because we assume it to mean our current definition of wire -- a thread of metal -- which is hardly a fitting word in the context of the poem. However, to a Renaissance reader, wire 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: "Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire" (Epithal).
As a satire
Sonnet 130 satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was a convention of literature and art in general during the Elizabethan era. Influences originating with the poetry of ancient Greece and Rome had established a tradition of this, which continued in Europe's customs of courtly love and in courtly poetry, and the work of poets such as Petrarch. It was customary to praise the beauty of the object of one's affections with comparisons to beautiful things found in nature and heaven, such as stars in the night sky, the golden light of the rising sun, or red roses. The images conjured by Shakespeare were common ones that would have been well-recognized by a reader or listener of this sonnet.
Shakespeare satirizes the hyperbole of the allusions used by conventional poets, which even by the Elizabethan era, had become predictable, and uninspiring. This sonnet compares the Poet‘s mistress to a number of natural beauties; each time making a point of his mistress‘ obvious inadequacy in such comparisons; she cannot hope to stand up to the beauties of the natural world. The first two quatrains compare the speaker‘s mistress to aspects of nature such as snow or coral. each comparison ending unflatteringly for the mistress. In the final couplet, the speaker proclaims his love for his mistress by declaring that he makes no false comparisons, the implication being that other poets do precisely that. Shakespeare's sonnet aims to do the opposite, by indicating that his mistress is the ideal object of his affections because of her genuine qualities, and that she is more worthy of his love than the paramours of other poets who are more fanciful
Summary
This sonnet compares the speaker‘s lover to a number of other beauties—and never in the lover‘s favor. Her eyes are ―nothing like the sun,‖ her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts are duncolored, and her hairs are like black wires on her head. In the second quatrain, the speaker says he has seen roses separated by color (―damasked‖) into red and white, but he sees no such roses in his mistress‘s cheeks; and he says the breath that ―reeks‖ from his mistress is less delightful than perfume. In the third quatrain, he admits that, though he loves her voice, music ―hath a far more pleasing sound,‖ and that, though he has never seen a goddess, his mistress—unlike goddesses—walks on the ground. In the couplet, however, the speaker declares that, ―by heav‘n,‖ he thinks his love as rare and valuable ―As any she belied with false compare‖—that is, any love in which false comparisons were invoked to describe the loved one‘s beauty.
Theme - Love
Like many of Shakespeare's sonnets, this poem is an expression of love. In order to express the love, speaker has to talk about it, define it, and examine it. In telling his mistress that he loves her, our speaker also has to give us an idea about what his love is like. This poem is partly about where love comes from, what motivates our feelings of affection for someone else. Specifically, it's about finding love in spite of (or maybe even because of) physical flaws.
Femininity and Real Beauty
In Sonnet 130, the theme "Women and Femininity" is connected to the idea of appearances. This poem is all about female beauty and our expectations and stereotypes about the way women ought to look. You know how in magazines women pretty much tend to look the same? They all fit into a very narrow definition of what is beautiful. Essentially, the speaker in this poem is pointing out that love poetry does the same thing. It makes women into goddesses, not real human beings. He insists that his idea of beautiful femininity doesn't depend on fitting an abstract, unrealistic fantasy
It satirizes the conventions of the traditional Italian sonnet by inverting the similes normally used within the Petrarchan conventions. Its subject is the beauties of his mistress, but unlike the Italianate poets who would say her lips are like coral and her breasts like snow, uses a sort of via negative a, saying that such comparisons would be false, in order to evoke in the reader‘s mind the real beauties of an actual woman. The final couplet makes obvious that he really is praising rather than denigrating his mistress.
Tone
The tone of Sonnet 130 is definitely sarcastic. Most sonnets, including others written by Shakespeare, praised women and practically deified them. Similar to the airbrushed model pictures we see in magazines today, no real woman could live up to the unreachable standard of having perfectly red lips, pink cheeks, silky hair, fragrant breath, and more.
Poetic device or Techniques
The rhetorical structure of Sonnet 130 is important to its effect. In the first quatrain, the speaker spends one line on each comparison between his mistress and something else (the sun, coral, snow, and wires—the one positive thing in the whole poem some part of his mistress is like. In the second and third quatrains, he expands the descriptions to occupy two lines each, so that roses/cheeks, perfume/breath, music/voice, and goddess/mistress each receive a pair of unrhymed lines. This creates the effect of an expanding and developing argument, and neatly prevents the poem which does, after all , rely on a single kind of joke for its first
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