Poetry analysis: 'My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun,' by William Shakespeare

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Les Zsoldos

This is a sonnet. All sonnets consist of fourteen verses. Also, each verse has ten syllables. The stress pattern is weak, strong, weak, strong. Each pattern of weak and strong syllables gives us a foot, so we can say that each verse has five feet. This sonnet is therefore in iambic pentameter.

The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is as follows: a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g. The last two verses rhyme which is typical of the Shakespearean sonnet. The rhyme scheme of the sonnet is highly regular as is the case with this one.

In this sonnet Shakespeare compares his mistress' eyes to the sun. He makes the case that her eyes are very different from the sun. Though the sun is beautiful and glowing, it has little in common with his mistress' eyes. Though they may be beautiful, reality is that they can't be compared to the sun.

Likewise, other parts of nature are very different from parts of his mistress. For example, coral has a very different shade of red from his mistress' lips and no roses are present in his mistress' cheeks. This differs from the words of some men who claim that their women have the light of the sun in their eyes, coral lips and rosy cheeks. Shakespeare expresses that though men might make these comparisons, they aren't accurate, at least not when he gazes upon his mistress. When he speaks of perfume, he notes that at times her breath reeks. Many perfumes have a sweeter fragrance.

Shakespeare expresses the reality that one's breath isn't always perfect and one doesn't always look spectacular. Over time the attraction that brings people too closer can wane. In fact, physical attraction isn't constant nor stable. For this reason, a couple need much more to remain together.

Though the sonnet may appear to be negative, it has positive words towards the end. It clarifies that although reality can be quite different from our dreams and desires, or that relationships have their ups and downs, he knows that his love for his mistress is intense. He describes it as rare and makes it clear that he doesn't need to make false comparisons about her to know that in his heart he has tremendous love for her. Some men may utter false words, but he doesn't need to because he accepts her as she is and is truly in love with her.

In Shakespeare's "My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun", he explains that he can't make false comparisons about his mistress. He's been with her a long time and knows her well. Though her eyes are nothing like the sun, it is of no consequence because he knows that his love for her is rare. He prefers to show his love for her through his actions rather than through false words.

http://poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/shakespeare_sonnet_130

Linda Sue Grimes

The speaker in Sonnet 130 challenges the Petrarchan tradition of putting the beloved upon a pedestal to show the lover's affection.

Instead of exaggerating the beloved’s physical features by comparing them to the sun, coral, snow, roses, perfumes, goddesses, the speaker in the Shakespeare sonnet 130 declares that he can proclaim his love for her while maintaining her humanness.

First Quatrain – “…black wires grow on her head”

Instead of exaggerating the beauty of his lady’s eyes by claiming that they outshine the sun, this down-to-earth speaker asserts that those eyes are “nothing like the sun.” He fails to describe the eyes at all, but as he continues through other body parts, he becomes more expressive.

Her lips are not as red as coral, though they are red, just not as red as coral. Her breasts are not as white as snow; they are actually a shade of brown, as all humans beings are various shades of brown. And her hair instead of silky strands look more like “black wires” sticking out of her head.

Second Quatrain – “no such roses see I in her cheeks”

The speaker lets us know that he has experience the beauty of a variegated rose, but he does not see those roses on the cheeks of his beloved. And he admits that some perfumes are actually more pleasing to his nose than the breath that exhales from his beloved.

The meaning of the word “reek” has changed somewhat from Shakespeare’s time. It meant “exhale” or “exudes” in the 16th and 17th century at the beginning of modern English, but now it designates an unpleasant odor.

Third Quatrain – “I grant I never saw a goddess go,—“

In the third quatrain, the speaker does something that has been conspicuously lacking in the first and second; he says, “I love to hear her speak . . .” So far the beloved by comparison to the sun, coral, snow, roses, and perfume has come up lacking, or so it seemed. All of these natural phenomena seemed to outshine her, but now he has said something positive about her and it happens to be her voice that he loves.

However, he does admit that even though he loves her voice, he knows it is not as “pleasing” as music. And although he has never seen a goddess walk, he knows that his beloved just “treads on the ground.” But, as far as the speaker knows, maybe a goddess would just tread on the ground also.

The Couplet – “I think my love as rare”

In the couplet, the speaker swears that he loves his mistress just as much as those poets who exaggerate their beloveds’ features. He loves her simply because she is rare, or a unique individual.

If he claimed her eyes were like the sun, one who looked would see that they are not, and her reality would belie, that is, make false, that comparison. The speaker wishes to proclaim his love but in truthful, human terms; he no doubt believes that that is also rare.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul, And sings the tune without the words, And never stops at all, And sweetest in the gale is heard; And sore must be the storm That could abash the little bird That kept so many warm. I've heard it in the chilliest land And on the strangest sea; Yet, never, in extremity, It asked a crumb of me.

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