My MistressEyes Are Nothing Like The Sun Analysis

The amount of beauty that a woman possesses is different, which makes each woman unique in her own way. Although, a woman should not be judged by what she looks like on the outside, society today makes it seem that if a woman does not have perfect hair or a perfect body, they are not beautiful. In William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, he gives details of the speaker’s descriptive comparison of nature’s beauties to his mistress’ beauty. Shakespeare uses a judgmental tone with misrepresentative word choice to suggest that even though his mistress doesn’t live up to society’s standards for women, her beauty is unique in his eyes.

Poetry has always had a common theme where lovers are portrayed as goddess-like, based on their beauty and love. However, in William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” written as an English sonnet, the speaker has a different vision, as he realizes that his lover’s beauty cannot be compared to that of a goddess, nor can it be found in nature for she is just a typical human being. His love for her is eventually shown, but without the use of the cliché image of beauty. Shakespeare’s use of metaphors, contrast, language and structure demonstrates that love is complicated and that real beauty is unrealistic and impossible to live up to.

“Sonnet 130” is about Shakespeare’s mistress. In this poem, he uses comparisons to describe his mistress as ugly. One comparison that Shakespeare makes is, “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.” In this comparison, Shakespeare relates hairs to wires to represent the coarseness of the hair of his mistress. When read by itself, the comparison does not display love. Yet later on in the poem, Shakespeare explains that even though her mistress may be uglier when compared to other women, but she is rare and unique. The fact that Shakespeare considers his love as rare shows that he loves her. Although the comparison itself in “Sonnet 130” is negative while the comparison in “Sonnet 18” is positive, both poems compare one subject to another to enhance the feeling of the topic of the poem. To continue, “Sonnet 130” also has exaggerations to amplify the descriptions of Shakespeare’s mistress. For example, when Shakespeare writes, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” he shows that his mistress’ eyes are dull in comparison to eyes of other people. He makes the mistress’ eyes seem even uglier as he uses the sun to represent other people’s eyes. Similarly to the comparison, the exaggeration gives his mistress a negative description. Yet, towards the end of the poem, he considers his love to be rare, which displays his love. In a similar

Since the beginning of time, human beings have found a variety of ways to illustrate their affections for one another. An intriguing form to present an individual’s ideal thoughts across is the form of poetry, for it displays a deep and mysterious meaning behind the connotation of the words used. Poetry allows writers to express themselves through the act of writing with the usage of a few words. However, it is sometimes difficult for a reader to comprehend what the poem is trying to imply, but that is the beauty behind poetry which as a reader, one might have a different interpretations from another. In an analysis of “She walks in beauty” by Lord Byron and “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare, they both have a unique distinction on how the words are used to project affections to their respective lover. The linguistic style of the poets diverges in their depiction the physical appearance, emotive feelings, and understanding what the lover means to them.

"Sonnet 130" compares William Shakespeare’s mistress to typical, natural beauty; each time drawing attention to his mistress’ obvious imperfections. He addresses her as if she cannot compare to the ideal appearances women are expected to look like in that of the natural world. The comparisons Shakespeare addresses highlight aspects of nature, such as snow (3)or coral (2) yet; each comparison proves to be unflatteringly about his mistress. However, in the final rhyming couplet, Shakespeare claims his love for his mistress by professing; that even though his mistresses has a great deal of flaws, he accepts them and loves her as much as any man could love a woman.

Shakespeare wanted to break away from social norms while writing many of his poems. In his sonnet “My Mistress Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun”, Shakespeare changed the traditional manners in which a man in love would talk to about his partner. His break of the social nor was to use unromantic metaphors about his lover such as, her hair, smell, and looks. “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head” (line 4), being told her hair looks like wires is nothing a woman wants to hear from a man. He continues to compare her looks to horrific object like her breath, “And in some perfumes is there more delight/ Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.” (lines 6-7). The reason Shakespeare continues to compare his love with ugly metaphors is to prove his unconditional love for her. To him no matter her looks he will always love her, Shakespeare believes that nothing pleasant can be compared to his perfect partner so he must see her imperfections. She is perfect for him because she has the imperfections which make her unique. With all the comparisons of unromantic descriptions, Shakespeare pours out his expression of true love. To him “… I think my love as rare” (line 12), in the poem that line confesses his love to the audience ending the thought that he could not possibly love her after being unromantic. With his unromantic gestures, comparison of appearance, and his belief of his rare love Shakespeare expresses the unconditional love.

The situation presented in “Sonnet 13: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun”, written by William Shakespeare, is that a man has a mistress who he finds less attractive and uninteresting but who he loves. Shakespeare writes the poem about his dull mistress. This poem triggers realization through relatability. Once I really figured out what this line could mean, it clicked that there was no affair, but that in everything he described he really loves his mistress. The overall message of this poem is that, when someone doubts any type of relationship, they should realize that it will not benefit them in any way to continue it.

'My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun' is a poem written by William Shakespeare about the love towards an imperfect woman. He explains that although his mistress is imperfect, he finds his love special and 'rare.' If the modern day reader is not careful, he/she might be quick to assume the role of the woman that Shakespeare writes about. Although the word mistress now refers to a sweetheart or a woman who lives with a man without being married to him, in Shakespeare's time, it meant a woman who rules others or has control. With that understood, the reader can focus on some important conventions of this poem- theme, tone, and form- to better understand and

Within the Petrarchan tradition, a poet would praise the beloved’s superlative qualities using elaborate descriptions of beauty such as “golden hair” or “starry eyes”. Using the blazon, the beloved’s attributes would be depicted through metaphorical comparison or conceits, often to elements of nature. Such comparisons demonstrate that the beloved’s attributes are so sublime that they elevate her to metaphysical proportions – she would seem divine and metaphysical. In “Sonnet 130”, Shakespeare mocks common Petrarchan conceits and rejects describing his beloved using conventional blazon imagery. Instead, Shakespeare portrays his lover in contrast to Petrarchan images of beauty within

‘Sonnet 130’ is a pre 1914 poem, by William Shakespeare, about love although it is not a traditional love poem. The poem is not a flattering poem but is more insulting. The opening line of Shakespeare 's Sonnet 130 is a simile "My mistress ' eyes are nothing like the sun". Unlike other poets who may exaggerate on describing the one they love, Shakespeare tells it as it is. Shakespeare continues to describe his mistress in terms of the senses of sight, smell, sound and touch. Shakespeare describes his mistress’ lips as “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red” This is giving the impression that lips of his mistress’ are a very pale colour. He continues

William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” is one of the famous in Shakespeare’s day. The speaker compares his lover with the nature in an uncomplimentary manner, but at the end he proves that he truly loves her, which gives reliability to his argues. Using a different phenomenal metaphor, he describes the love in subverting and reverses the conventions.

“False love, desire, and beauty frail, adieu! Dead is the root whence all these fancies grew,” (Sir Walter Raleigh). Raleigh portrays the love of poets as false love, which is similar to the way William Shakespeare describes it in Sonnet 130, where he mocks the way other poets exaggerate their muses’ beauty. Though one would assume Shakespeare wrote this sonnet to give to his mistress, he did not, as he was smart enough to know she would never talk to him again if he did. He in fact wrote it to mock Petrarchan sonnets which exaggerated beauty to the point where it was no longer real and it was obvious the poet's love went no deeper than the skin of their mistress. In the sonnet Shakespeare first appears harsh in criticizing his mistress’ beauty, but as the sonnet progresses, he subtly reveals that his love for her is unconditional to ultimately challenge society’s cliched beliefs of love.

“Sonnet 130” has a tone of truthfulness. Throughout the sonnet Shakespeare says somewhat mean but truthful facts about the appearance of his mistress. Even though the statements seem cruel and mean he is speaking the truth and these flaws don’t bother him. The sonnet’s mood is loving. Shakespeare doesn’t have the slightest problem with not having the “prettiest” mistress which is proven by how he talks about her saying things like “black wires grow on her head” (l. 4). He prefers to have a woman with a more beautiful inside rather than outside. Shakespeare’s view on love creates the tone and mood for the sonnet but is also a great

To give imagery details of the women being described, one poet uses nature to compare his mistress, while the other plainly describes her stage presence and appearance. They are both detailed visual sonnets. Both poets see beauty in these women, and describe them in a unique and detailed way. Throughout Shakespeare’s sonnet he uses nature and to say his mistress is not as beautiful as. One imagery Shakespeare uses in the beginning of the sonnet, stating “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red” (Shakespeare). Furthermore, the imagery he uses makes us visualize how the woman may have looked. He gave us an idea; we can see how dull she looks. Imagine her pale skin, brittle hair, and pinkish colored lips. I imagine her breath reeking of cigarettes, seeing that he states that he has smelled perfumes smelling better than her. Shakespeare has different views of beauty upon his mistress’ looks. His mistress is

The sonnet goes on about talking how real love is more sincere than the representation of woman’s physical appearance as perfection. Beauty fades away in time, and Shakespeare is curious about his mistress’s personality and character that caused him to truly love her. Shakespeare claims that his lover doesn’t represent a perfect beauty: “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun /If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head”(1,3). His comparisons are undesirable and unemotional, but afterward, he proves that his mistress outstands any goddess with a perfect appearance. “I grant I never saw a goddess go;/ My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.” (11-12). In these two lines, Shakespeare is stating the facts and is being straightforward. He proves to us that her lover is nothing like a goddess, she doesn’t have any extraordinary skills, she just walks like a normal human being. Shakespeare’s relationship with his mistress is deeper than a physical appearance. He portrays the woman in a realistic way. He doesn’t use positive terms to praise her, but he uses simple expressions to show the reality of his love. “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;”(3) in this line Shakespeare indicates