my mistresses eyes- william shakespeare

1. The tone of the poem is ABAB/CDCD/EFEF/GG which is a typical tone for William Shakespeare.
2. The poem should be a love sonnet but instead it has some humour to it and he mocks his mistress by saying “My mistresses eyes are nothing like the sun” ,in line 1, as to say that his mistresses eyes don’t even compare they pretty much normal, and there’s nothing wonderful about it. In the 2nd line he says “Coral is far more red than her lips”. Coral is a red/ orange colour, and is perceived as beautiful, but in sonnet the speaker says his mistresses lips are far less red than coral, so it isn’t not appealing at all. The 3rd line says that “if snow be white, why then her breast are dun”, in this line the expression makes me think of the fairytale snow white, and she was seen as the fairest most beautiful person, but in this poem the speaker says his mistresses breasts are dun which is a yellowish-brown unattractive and ugly colour. Line 4 says “if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head”. Black wires makes me think of black bushy, frizzy hair, blonde, smooth and sleek hair is perceived as attractive but his mistress has a head of crazy black wires. Lines 5 and 6 say “If I have seen roses damasked, red and white, but no such roses I see in her cheeks”. Damask is a pattern of two colours and roses are usually a sign of beauty, a bit of colour in her cheeks would be beautiful but this speaker says that there’s no roses in her cheeks. In line 7 and 8 the speaker says “And in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”. Instead of saying how wonderful his mistress smells he says that there’s more delight from perfumes than from his mistresses breath that reeks, this could also be interpreted that his mistresses breath stinks. In line 9 the tone tends to change because he finally speaks about something he loves about her, he says “I love to hear her speak” but then he goes on to saying into line 10 that “yet well I know that music hath a far m0ore pleasing sound” so even though the sound of music is more pleasing he still loves to hear her speak. In line 11 and 12 he says “I grant I never saw a goddess go; my mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground”. He now admits to never seeing a goddess but a goddess would be imagine to be floating into a room instead of treading as his mistress does, it makes me imagine that she would walk with a loud thumping sound. In line 13 and 14 he concludes by saying “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare”. He now comes across very positive and sees his love as rare, things that are rare are usually hard to find and precious and that’s how he feels about her even though she gets compared to unrealistic things, he sees her as a normal wonderful human being.

3. I agree that the poet is mocking the mistresses looks because he compares her to all these beautiful things like “my mistresses eyes are nothing like the sun”, “coral is more red than her lips’ red”, if snow be white, why her breasts be dun” and “and in some perfumes is there more delight than in the breath that from my mistress reeks”. Instead of complimenting her on everything that is beautiful about her he points out the opposite. He lets us know that his mistress is not this idealistic conventional beautiful picture.

4. In this sonnet the speaker doesn’t try to romanticize things too much, her wants you to get a realistic picture of his mistress she not a goddess she’s just a normal woman that treads the floor, has frizzy hair, normal eyes, she doesn’t have the most beautiful white skin, but still he knows their love is rare and not worth comparing to false ideals.

5. The first line “my mistresses eyes is nothing like the sun” is an example of simile, because the speaker uses the word ‘like’. Line 2 is also a simile; her lips are being compared to coral. In line 3 he says “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun” is a metaphor, this is a figure of speech to describe her breasts as her breasts aren’t really dun. The 5th line says “if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head” this is personification, he gives the wires a human feature saying her hair are wires. In the 13th line he says “I think my love as rare” this is a simile because he uses the word ‘as’.

6. The comparisons made in the poem are quite similar to my society; in the poem I can imagine that his mistress’s eyes are probably brown and nothing exotic. In my society blue or green eyes are beautiful and usually gleams in the rays of the sun, this is why he says his “mistresses eye is nothing like the sun”. I picture eyes like the sun as a sunset with beautiful colours. In the second line he says “if snow be white, why then her breasts are dun”. This is quite an interesting line because society does perceive white skin as beautiful, people uses all kinds of beauty products and skin whiteners and brighteners because they want flawless skin. We also live in a country where being white was beneficial and you were more superior. In line 4 he says “if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head”, this I imagine to be a big bush of frizzy hair and in society smooth and sleek straight hair is beautiful. The colour of her hair is black and blond would be perceived to be more beautiful.

7. In the last two lines the tone changes completely and he finally makes a positive statement towards his mistress saying “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as fair, as she belied with false compare” and by this he says that his love is as important and sacred as heaven and that is beautiful and rare to find, so she is of great value to him. In the last line he says that she can’t be compared to something false and unrealistic, she’s beautiful but human, with flaws and all and that is what he loves about her