William Shakespeare 's Sonnet 130

In life people sometimes face different tribulations that bring them down such as being judged for their physical appearance or even the way they are. Writers in literature who are known to write about romantic things sometimes use this as a way to create things to write about. In sonnet 130, Shakespeare helps us understand that even though his wife has different flaws he still loves her for who she is as a person. Shakespeare uses a critical and judgmental tone to show that even though he compares his mistress to all of these things he still loves her even though her physical appearance isn’t the best.

Shakespeare examines love in two different ways in Sonnets 116 and 130. In the first, love is treated in its most ideal form as an uncompromising force (indeed, as the greatest force in the universe); in the latter sonnet, Shakespeare treats love from a more practical aspect: it is viewed simply and realistically without ornament. Yet both sonnets are justifiable in and of themselves, for neither misrepresents love or speaks of it slightingly. Indeed, Shakespeare illustrates two qualities of love in the two sonnets: its potential and its objectivity. This paper will compare and contrast the two sonnets by Shakespeare and show how they represent two different attitudes to love.

Poems use lots of different ways to express personal relationships. The authors of these poems can use language, tone, structure and many other ways to convey personal relationships. The poem Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy uses many of these aspects. The main idea of this poem is to compare an onion to the love a woman has for her lover. The poem Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare also uses language, tone, structure and imagery. This poem however uses them in a different way. This poem is about how a man loves his wife/lover in his own special way. These two poems use language, tone, structure, rhyme/rhythm and imagery to express a personal relationship.

Many men compare try to make their mistress feel special like they are no other by comparing them to false comparisons. The speaker was not afraid to be blunt about his mistress instead of how other men use false comparison and fill their mistress head up. William Shakespeare gives the speaker a blunt tone in Sonnet 130 to convey that he was not bragging on his wife saying she is all this and that. He said things that others compare their mistress to. That is what make his love for his mistress unconditional and very special.

The ideas of love being expressed in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and Sonnet 130 are genuinely contrasting. In Much Ado About Nothing, one of the many focal points are Beatrice and Benedick’s foolish relationship, also the most captivating, whereas in Sonnet 130, Shakespeare is talking about the misrepresentation of the “Dark Lady”, who he refers to as his mistress. Regardless of a person’s flaws disfigurements, the stress they cause, and the bickering that occurs, love can withstand time, and under the circumstances love doesn’t change for anyone, that it does not substitute itself when it finds differences in the loved one.

“Sonnet 116” written by William Shakespeare is focusing on the strength and true power of love. Love is a feeling that sustainable to alterations, that take place at certain points in life, and love is even stronger than a breakup because separation cannot eliminate feelings. The writer makes use of metaphors expressing love as a feeling of mind not just heart as young readers may see it. To Shakespeare love is an immortal felling that is similar to a mark on a person’s life.

In many cases, love is misrepresented and not shown in its reality. According to The Human Experience, by Richard Abcarian, Marvin Klotz, and Samuel Cohen, “The rosy conception of love presented in many popular and sentimental stories does not prepare us for the complicated reality we face” (859). Thus in many stories and poems, love is not truly portrayed for what it really is. However, in “Sonnet 130,” Shakespeare does the opposite of this. The speaker states, “I have seen roses damasked, red and white / But no such roses see I in her cheeks” (5-6). In most love poems, the speaker would be stating that his lover’s cheeks are as red as roses. Despite this, Shakespeare is basically poking fun at those poems due to the fact that it is not normal for a woman to have bright red cheeks. Another example of this can be shown when the speaker

Everyone's perception of beauty differs, but all women are beautiful in their own way. We as a society have set a standard for women that is not only unattainable but also leaves women who take these standards seriously, feeling inadequate or invalid. This has been an issue in society for many centuries and even a topic famous writers like William Shakespeare have acknowledged. In his Sonnet 130, Shakespeare gives examples of the preposterous comparisons women have been subjected to and how the love he has for his mistress can overshadow these imperfections. Shakespeare uses a judgemental tone and contrasting word choice to suggest that even though this woman is by all means flawed, he still has feelings for her.

Sonnet 130 is a parody of the conventional love sonnet, made popular by Petrarch and, made popular in England by Sidney’s use of the Petrarchan form in his epic poem Astrophel and Stella. When comparing the stanzas of A & S to Sonnet 130, the reader can clearly see that the sonnet does not use grandiose metaphors or allusions to build his beloved into a divine figure. Despite it being an obvious parody, it will be compared to the chosen lines from the Tempest. In Shakespeare’s day, metaphors that allude to putting the beloved on a pedestal of beauty had already become a cliché, but they were an accepted technique for writing love poetry nonetheless. The way these poems would describe the poet’s lover was high idealized, making comparisons

The title of the poem “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” suggests that the speaker is not in love with his ‘mistress’. However, this is not the case. Shakespeare uses figurative language by using criticizing hyperboles to mock the traditional love sonnet. Thus, showing not only that the ideal woman is not always a ‘goddess’, but mocking the way others write about love. Shakespeare proves that love can be written about and accomplished without the artificial and exuberant. The speaker’s tone is ironic, sarcastic, and comical turning the traditional conceit around using satire. The traditional iambic pentameter rhyming scheme of the sonnet makes the diction fall into place as relaxed, truthful, and with elegance in the easy flowing verse. In turn, making this sonnet one of parody and real love.

Shakespeare’s sonnet 60 expresses the inevitable end that comes with time and uses this dark truth to express his hopefulness that his poetry will carry his beloved’s beauty and worth into the future in some way so that it may never die. This love poem is, as all sonnets are, fourteen lines. Three quatrains form these fourteen lines, and each quatrain consists of two lines. Furthermore, the last two lines that follow these quatrains are known as the couplet. This sonnet has the rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG, as most Shakespearean sonnets follow. In each of the three quatrains, Shakespeare discusses a different idea. In this particular sonnet, the idea is how time continues to pass on, causing everything to die. The couplet connects these ideas to one central theme, this theme being Shakespeare’s hope for the beauty of his beloved’s immortality through his poetry’s continuation into future times.

“Sonnet 130” written by William Shakespeare, is one of his most well known poems and can be analyzed and broken apart in great depth. The poem is written in fourteen lines which makes it a sonnet. Like all of Shakespeare’s sonnets the meter is iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme for “Sonnet 130” is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. An overlaying theme for “Sonnet 130” is, “True love is based on how beautiful you find someone on the inside.” Shakespeare proves to have a great view on true love in this sonnet. He cares more about what’s on the inside rather than what’s on the outside. “Sonnet 130’s” theme can be proven by Shakespeare's use of poetic and literary devices, the tone and mood of the sonnet, and the motif of true love.

William Shakespeare is recognized for being one of greatest poets of all time. His works are still popular to this day. Many of his works included extended metaphors and similes with rhetorical language and were rooted in the nature of love. Two of his poems that are rather alike, but also very contrastive are “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” and “My mistresses’ eyes are nothing like the sun.” They both contain a core theme of love or anti-love in some aspects. While these two poems are built around the same type of subject, their interpretations come across in separate ways. In contrast to Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18” which is a serious love poem that contains imagery and metaphors, Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is more negative and humorous but contains imagery and similes.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Line 1). “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Line 1). These are both two of the famous lines from William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 and 130. William Shakespeare was an intelligent English playwright, poet, and dramatist during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He is known as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Sonnet 18 and 130 are two of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. Sonnet 18 is a love poem about how he compares the woman’s love to a summer’s day. Sonnet 130 has a different approach. It is still a comparison, but it seems to be a more spiteful one. These sonnets are both share similar subjects, imagery, theme, and rhyme scheme; however they are more so different in forms and purpose.

Shakespeare, who wrote the sonnets in 1609, expresses his own feelings through his greatest work of literature. The theme of love in the poems reflect thoughts from the Renaissance period. Love is one of many components of Shakespeare’s life shown in the sonnets. Love can be defined in many ways other than a strong affection for a lover. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the concept of love can be seen through many uncommon means such as the love of life before death in “Sonnet 73,” love in marriage in “Sonnet 116,” love through sexual desire in “Sonnet 129,” and love through nature in “Sonnet 130,” proving that love can be expressed through many different feelings and emotions.