“If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun” is a quote from Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 that compare’s Shakespeare’s mistress skin color to something that is unattractive for the time period of the sixteenth century. Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 ,“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” mocks the traditional Petrarchan sonnet. It is questionable whether it mocks a certain Petrarchan sonnet or rather the whole idealized love object aspect of the Petrarchan tradition. Instead of being love sick and idolizing his lady, Shakespeare demeans his lady by comparing her to unattractive subjects by using similes and metaphors. While the quatrain mocks his lady, the couplet unveils a whole different side of his “love story.” Shakespeare’s sonnet explores the idea that his love is incomparable and rare even though his lady is not the most desirable through mocking the idealized love object of the Petrarchan sonnet. In the quatrain, Shakespeare uses many comparisons to portray his undesirable lady. Shakespeare says, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” and “Coral is far more red...
it suggests the female he is addressing is not physically attractive and that despite this he loves her. In order to convey this idea he uses trope like language used in love poems and suggests the his “mistress” is not this, shown in the first line and throughout (quote and analyse). this creates the idea that the she is human and not the idealistic beauty as set out out in daniels poem. This humanising element to Shakespeare's poem contradicts the theory of Debeauvoir which suggests women to be other (quote). Also, the nature of the poem confuses her idea that to men there is the good and bad woman this is because this poem is suggested to be aimed at shakespeares dark lady and at first glance you may assume that this means she would fall into the trope of the bad women. However the love the reader feels for the women is deep and true, going beyond physical appearance and this links closer to the trope of the good women. This suggests that the idea of the good and bad women is not as clear cut and Shakespeare plays with this idea. Through his description he paints an almost revolting image of the female, an example of this being "If her hair be wires, black wires grow on her head." This clever simile creates the impression that she is unkempt and we get almost hag like connotations from this description. Also in lines 7 and 8 "And in some perfumes is there more delight/Than in her breath that
This poem speaks of a love that is truer than denoting a woman's physical perfection or her "angelic voice." As those traits are all ones that will fade with time, Shakespeare exclaims his true love by revealing her personality traits that caused his love. Shakespeare suggests that the eyes of the woman he loves are not twinkling like the sun: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" (1). Her hair is compared to a wire: "If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (3). These negative comparisons may sound almost unloving, however, Shakespeare proves that the mistress outdistances any goddess. This shows that the poet appreciates her human beauties unlike a Petrarchan sonnet that stresses a woman's cheek as red a rose or her face white as snow. Straying away from the dazzling rhetoric, this Shakespearean poem projects a humane and friendly impression and elicits laughter while expressing a truer love. A Petrarchan sonnet states that love must never change; this poem offers a more genuine expression of love by describing a natural woman.
'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 appreciate the piece.
William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130”, was published in the mid-1590, and published with the rest of Shakespeare’s sonnets in 1609. The sonnet has fourteen lines, and divided into three quatrains and one couplet at the end. The rhyme scheme is cross rhyme, with the last two lines being couplets that rhyme. The sonnet compares between nature and the poets’ lover or mistress. He shows a more realistic view of his lover. Needless to say his significant other wasn’t physically attractive, yet he loved her inside beauty. Today we may use the term, “It’s not all about looks, but what’s inside”.
During the time Shakespeare was alive it was not civil for a white person to be in love with a colored person, so that is why Shakespeare says that his love is rare. The last line says “As any she belied with false compare”. I think he is saying that any woman who has had untruths told about her beauty she denied with false comparisons. Throughout the sonnet Shakespeare uses a great deal of imagery to give the reader a picture image on how his Mistress’ looks. He compares her features; hair, eyes, cheeks, breast, lips, and complexion to wires, the sun, roses, coral, and snow. He uses a unique way of describing his mistress by comparing her to things that she is not. I think Shakespeare used this way to confuse the reader of how his mistress looks.
Sonnet 130 openly mocks the traditional love sonnets of the time. This is, perhaps, made most apparent through the use of subversive comparisons and exaggerated similes. The intention of a subversive comparison is to mimic a traditional comparison yet highlight the opposite purpose. Whereas his contemporaries would compare their love’s beauty to alabaster or pearls, Shakespeare notes, “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun” (3), therefore intentionally downplaying the beauty of his mistress. Later he states, “...in some perfumes there is more delight / than in the breath that from my mistress reeks” (7-8). Both of these exemplify that Shakespeare ridicules the traditional love sonnet by employing the same imagery to convey opposite intentions.
Shakespeare and Petrarch, two poets popular for their contributions on the issue of love, both tackle the subject of their work through sonnet, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the way, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, it is clear that in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare in fact parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Shakespeare seems, by all accounts, to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s piece by giving an English poem portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. In reviewing "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan work. The leading major contrast between the two poems is the piece structure utilized (McLaughlin).
William Shakespeare was an excellent writer, who throughout his life created well written pieces of literatures which are valued and learned about in modern times. One of his many works are 154 Sonnets, within these Sonnets there are several people Shakespeare “writes to”, such as fair youth, dark lady and rival poet. Sonnet 20 is written to fair youth, or in other words a young man. The idea of homosexuality appears in Sonnet 20 after the speaker admits his love towards the young man.
In Shakespeare's sonnet #3, he is writing to tell the recipient of the sonnet that he must have children if he wants his legacy to live on after he dies. Lines 5 and 6 read "For where is she so fair whose unear'd womb/ Disdains the tillage of thy husbandry?," indicating that this man to whom Shakespeare is writing must have children or his lineage ends; there will be no more speak of him after he is gone. He goes on to say that children are just like their parents so therefore, having a child will allow a parent to have his time living mean something. This point is demonstrated in the closing line. Shakespeare says "Die single and thine image dies with thee." From what seems like a common theme in many of his sonnets, Shakespeare urges his
The sonnet opens with a seemingly joyous and innocent tribute to the young friend who is vital to the poet's emotional well being. However, the poet quickly establishes the negative aspect of his dependence on his beloved, and the complimentary metaphor that the friend is food for his soul decays into ugly imagery of the poet alternating between starving and gorging himself on that food. The poet is disgusted and frightened by his dependence on the young friend. He is consumed by guilt over his passion. Words with implicit sexual meanings permeate the sonnet -- "enjoyer", "treasure", "pursuing", "possessing", "had" -- as do allusions to five of the seven "deadly" sins -- avarice (4), gluttony (9, 14), pride (5), lust (12), and envy (6).
has the gentle heart of a woman but is not inconsistent as is the way
Through the form of sonnet, Shakespeare and Petrarch both address the subject of love, yet there are key contrasts in their style, structure, and in the manner, each approaches their subjects. Moreover, in "Sonnet 130," Shakespeare, in fact, parodies Petrarch's style and thoughts as his storyteller describes his mistress, whose "eyes are in no way as the sun" (Shakespeare 1918). Through his English poem, Shakespeare seems to mock the exaggerated descriptions expanded throughout Petrarch’s work by portraying the speaker’s love in terms that are characteristic of a flawed woman not a goddess. On the other hand, upon a review of "Sonnet 292" from the Canzoniere, through “Introduction to Literature and Arts,” one quickly perceives that Petrarch's work is full of symbolism. However, Petrarch’s utilization of resemblance and the romanticizing of Petrarch's female subject are normal for the Petrarchan style.
That means, the approaches of poet’s love remain the same. In one place, he portrays beauty as conveying a great responsibility in the sonnets addressed to the young man. The poet has experienced what he thinks of as "the marriage of true minds," also known as true love, that his love remains strong, and that he believes that it’s eternal. Nothing will stop their love, as in the symbols like all the ships, stars and stormy seas that fill the landscape of the poem and so on what can affect to their love. The poet is too much attracted with the young man’s beauty, though this indicates to something really bad behavior. But in another place, Shakespeare makes fun of the dark lady in sonnet 130. He explains that his lover, the dark lady, has wires for hair, bad breath, dull cleavage, a heavy step, pale lips and so on, but to him, real love is, the sonnet implies, begins when we accept our lovers for what they are as well as what they are not. But other critics may not agree with this and to them, beauty may define to something
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) lived in a time of religious turbulence. During the Renaissance people began to move away from the Church. Authors began to focus on the morals of the individual and on less lofty ideals than those of the Middle Ages. Shakespeare wrote one-hundred fifty-four sonnets during his lifetime. Within these sonnets he largely explored romantic love, not the love of God. In Sonnet 29 Shakespeare uses specific word choice and rhyme to show the reader that it is easy to be hopeful when life is going well, but love is always there, for rich and poor alike, even when religion fails.
In Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, the speaker ponders the beauty, or the lack thereof, of his lover. Throughout the sonnet, the speaker presents his lover as an unattractive mistress with displeasing features, but in fact, the speaker is ridiculing, through the use of vivid imagery, the conventions of love poems and the way woman are portrayed through the use of false comparisons. In the end, the speaker argues that his mistress may not be perfect, but in his eyes, her beauty is equal to any woman who is abundantly admired and put through the untrue comparison.