| My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130) | |
| by William Shakespeare | |
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My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
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This seems to be about the love towards an imperfect woman. He explains that although his mistress is imperfect, he finds his love special and “rare.” He speaks of her eyes being “nothing like the sun“, her lips not as red as coral, her breasts are “dun”, her cheeks less red than roses, and her voice not as pleasant as music. He even becomes a bit insulting when he points out that her hairs are like black wires, her breath reeks, and that she treads on the ground when she walks. Nonetheless, he thinks that she is of “false compare” and is unique. He even says that by HEAVEN, “I think my love is rare”.
I really loved this poem, because even though Shakespeare is not being complimentary in any way to his mistress, he is pointing out how love is not supposed to be about all the superficial parts of a person. No one is perfect, and this poem seems to suggest that truly loving someone is embracing them for who they are, imperfections and all.
I did some research on this sonnet and discovered it was meant to mock contemporary sonnets that always talked about beautiful flawless woman. Shakespeare decided to describe a woman who isn’t so beautiful who is just as deserving of love. Shakespeare is pretty beasty
go to the Oxford English Dictionary (oed.com) and look up the variant meanings of belie. What’s he really like about this gal?
OMG OMG OMG> belie means to lie with carnally ..in other words, she was good in bed.
DIRTY DIRTY SHAKESPEARE. Here I had this romantic meaning…..guess not.
I still think the poem’s romantic in a sense. I think her being good in bed is a perk but he still loves her despite all her flaws. Don’t ruin this for me dev lol!
We are for this very reason destitude. For love, life, and hapiness and Shakespear just enlightened our views on the subject of lifes only true mystery … Women!