Isabel Lim
Miramar College
1 October 2007
 
“Sonnet 130”
     From time immemorial poems expressing love and beauty have always been a common theme. Lovers are always portrayed on a pedestal, possessing ethereal, goddess-like qualities. However, in “Sonnet 130,” by William Shakespeare, metaphoric contrast is used to depict his mistress as a rare natural beauty. Shakespeare ridicules the traditional expression of love, while successfully expressing his own.
     The rhyme scheme of this sonnet follows an abab cdcd efef gg pattern. As a “Shakespearean” sonnet, it is organized into three quatrains of four lined stanzas and a closing couplet of two rhyming lines. The meter follows the rise and fall of natural speech with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable known as an iamb. In this sonnet there are ten syllables, or five feet, per line following the iambic pattern, thus a pentameter. In this way the poem is able to flow smoothly and naturally when read aloud. At first it seems like any other love poem:
          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.
The first line is deceiving for the reader, as one expects to hear about her supernatural beauty. However, the succeeding lines confirm that although his mistress is ordinary when compared to the sun, coral, and snow — she is not as beautiful as these things. In fact, she is quite the opposite, with dark eyes, pale lips, brown breasts, and black hair. There is no room for subtlety, only frankness and a humorous or derisive tone, almost satirical. The second quatrain uses two line comparisons of beauty instead of one line comparisons used in the first stanza:

           I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
            But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
            Andin some perfumes is there more delight
            Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
With each quatrain there is a progression of what seems to be a metaphorical mockery on traditional love poems of the period. With her pale cheeks and malodorous breath, Shakespeare seems to be listing all of his mistress’ imperfections. From simple to increasingly complex comparisons, Shakespeare personalizes his analysis in this quatrain. A master with words, his lack of flattery for her is flattery in itself, as he loves her despite her physical faults. The extensive list is detailed into the third quatrain.

      This last description of his beloved’s physical exterior depicts a realistic beauty:he third quatrain extends the comparison of his subject’s greatness over all other women:
           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;
Goddess are ethereal, unattainable, and from the heavens. Shakespeare’s mistress, on the contrary, is heavy footed and earthly. He does not try to deify the dark lady, but rather do her justice in the truth. Music may sound better, but he loves her despite her imperfections for she is tangible and real – flawed, but unique. He loves her for who she is, inside and out. By using typical idealistic comparisons, he is able to convey the depth of his love candidly and without using the characteristic false hyperboles of the time period.

      The ending couplet reinforces the idea that, although she is far from ideal, she is one of a kind:
            And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
            As any she belied with false compare.
The sarcastic, almost disdainful tone throughout the entire sonnet is directed more towards Shakespeare’s peers and their typical love poems, than at his mistress. This is understood in the end as he concludes that he has described her honestly, “without false compare.” She is just as extraordinary as any woman described with such exaggerated comparisons. Their honest relationship and his total love for her being makes the sonnet itself unique and uncompromising. He realistically depicts her and loves her. Shakespeare may have underlying social commentary, scornful of society’s importance of outer beauty. The sonnet seems to suggest that instead of a comparison to a goddess as Shakespeare’s peers have done, blunt sincerity can be just as flattering in defining rare beauty.

 
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