poetry texts, poem archive at plagiarist.com

I've actually majored in English, and just letting you guys know that shakespeare was not actually talking about his wife in the poem, but a mistress. She was referred to as the "dark lady" as she was non-white (line 3 and 4). The dark lady unltimatly betrays the poet by actally loving other men in sonnets 127 to 154.

I also was taught in college (ENGL 202) that this sonnet was not about Shakaspeare's wife but rather about his mistress (after all, the poem reads..."my MISTRESS' eyes are nothing like the sun), and that the main point of the sonnet was to mock the petrarchan ideal of a blonde-haried, bright-eyed, ivory-skinned lady as being the epitome of all that is beautiful and desirable.

This sonnet is just like the movie "The Stepford Wives" in that it satirizes the narrow beauty ideal.

Also, I always remember the first line of this sonnet when trying to recall the parameters of iambic pentameter--its very helpful to me.

Finally, for those of you too young to remember...check out the use of (the first line of) this sonnet in Sting's song "Sister Moon", circa 1987:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
My hunger for her explains everything I've done
To howl at the moon the whole night through
And you really don't care if I do
I'd go out of my mind but for you.

.... 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 womanwho rules others or has control....

this is different from other sonnets as shakespeare is being honest about the way he feels about his wife. instead of saying how lovely she is he compears her to the way he truefuly thinks.

For the pedants: correct, it is not only correct under period usage, but, (subjectively, of course), far better in keeping with the tone of the poem that "mistress" would here be used as the feminine alternative to "master". For everyone: look carefully, he does not say that he loves her BECAUSE of her flaws, he simply states that she has flaws, and he loves her. He loves her a a real, breathing woman, and most importantly, he loves her enough to see her for what she is- a real person, with her fair share of faults, who is wonderful in her humanity. This, IMHO, is far more romantic than wildly ascribing inhuman perfection to the woman, thus denying her individuality and true nature. (See references to the Patrarchan ideal). Finally, please, if you're going to brag about your English degree, have the sense to check your spelling. ;-)

i feel that this poem is a veiw that many people need to adopt today. we see the shallow views many people seem to have. shakespeare shows that mere physical appearance has nothing to do with real love.

love is about seeing your partners flaws but loving and accepting them anyways. love is about loving that person for who they are not who you want them to be. in petarchan poetry they always over exaggerate the way they see their love. none of these are realistic but are infact the way they MAKE themselves see them. this poem is different because shakespeare does not say want he wishes she was but instead what she is in reality.

the world needs to see that it is not always the physical appearance. in fact if you base a realationship on that alone it will most likely be doomed to fail. but love is realistic and beautiful as shakespeare brought out superbly in sonnet 130.

Shakespeare is a speaker in this poem. Shakespeare is trying to project the image of his mistress to the reader. The image that I get from this poem is that his mistress is not very physically attractive. Her eyes are dull, her lips are a yellowish red, her breasts are a dull gray brown, her hair is like black wires, her cheeks are not rosy, and her breath “reeks”.

The speaker’s tone is one of ribald humour. Shakespeare paints an honest picture of his unattractive sweetheart, but in the end he expresses how much he really loves her. Even though her voice is not as pleasing as the sound of music he loves to hear her speak.

Shakespeare uses a shift in the tone of his sonnet to show how he feels about the physical appearance of his mistress. At the beginning of the poem it seems like Shakespeare has a negative tone in describing her physical appearance - lines 1 – 8. Then the tone of the poem shifts when he says “I love to hear her speak…..” in line 9, his tone is more positive toward his mistress. In the last two lines Shakespeare declares that his love for her is rare. This shows that Shakespeare does not have a negative feeling towards his mistress but he is disapproving of the commonly held ideas of beauty.