Understanding Shakespeare's Sonnet 130
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.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
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:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
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.
I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
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:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
- Do you think the last two lines make up for the rest of the things the speaker says about his mistress? Would you think it was charming if someone wrote this poem about you?
- Does Shakespeare make a fair point? Do some love poems take these comparisons too far? Or this exactly the place for fancy phrases?
- Have you ever tried to write someone a love poem? Did you actually send it? How did it go over?
- Shakespeare wrote this poem about 400 years ago. Does it feel like an old poem? In what ways? If you changed the language a little, could this poem have been written today? Why or why not?
- Do you feel like the speaker is describing a specific person? If so, what makes it seem that way? If not, why not?
Your Turn: Write your own sonnet
Compose your own sonnet. Traditionally sonnets are lyric poems that deal with deep emotions. You can write about those if you want, but it could be politics, religion sport, war, celebrities ... you choose.
Checklist
Checklist
- Your sonnet should be 14 lines long
- It should be written in iambic pentameter - each line containing fine iambs, or 'feet', and an iamb is one undressed and one stressed syllable, and that equals 10 syllables per line.
- It should have an octave - eight lines dealing with the poem's theme arm ain idea from one point of voiew
- It should have a sestet - six lines that contradict, oppose or cast some doubt on the point of view expressed in the octave.
- The ninth line, the volt at the start of sestet, introduces this new point of view.
- It should follow the Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
- Aim to include at least one sound device (alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia)
- Aim to include at least one metaphor, personification or simile.