Student

ENG 1501
Assignment 1 – Poetry
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun
By
William Shakespeare
Table of contents:
Content: Page number:
Introduction 3
Question 1-2 4
Question 2 cont. 5
Question 3 6
Question 3 cont.-4 7
Question 5 8
Question 6 9
Question 7 10
Conclusion 11 bibliography 12 Introduction:
Sonnet 130 satirizes the concept of ideal beauty that was a convention of literature and art in general during the Elizabethan era. Influences originating with the poetry of ancient Greece and Rome had established a tradition of this, which continued in Europe 's customs of courtly love and in courtly poetry, and the work of poets such as Petrarch. It was customary to praise the beauty of the object of one 's affections with comparisons to beautiful things found in nature and heaven, such as stars in the night sky, the golden light of the rising sun, or red roses.[1] The images conjured by Shakespeare were common ones that would have been well-recognized by a reader or listener of this sonnet. Shakespeare satirizes the hyperbole of the allusions used by conventional poets, which even by the Elizabethan era, had become cliché, predictable, and uninspiring
Question 1
Shakespearean sonnets are written in 14 lines, with a rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. The following words rhyme with each other: o Lines 1 & 3 – ‘sun’ and ‘dun’ o Lines 2 & 4 – ‘red’ and ‘head’ o Lines 5 & 7 – ‘white’ and ‘delight’ o Lines 6 & 8 – ‘cheeks’ and ‘reeks’ o Lines 9 & 11 – ‘sound’ and ‘ground’ o Lines 13 & 14 – ‘rare’ and ‘compare’
The last 2 verses rhyme, which is typical of a Shakespearean sonnet.
Question 2
“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.
If I have seen roses damasked, white and red,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes there more delight
That in the breath that from my mistress reeks”
The above quoted lines (1-8) sets a tone of discontent, irony, satirical and mockery. It is ironic because it is unlike any other poem where the port praises his loved one, in this case the port mocks her physical appearance. It sounds like he is insulting and belittling her by suggesting that she is ordinary. This tone shows how he feels about the physical appearance of his mistress.
The satirical tone comes in because the port uses humour to highlight and point out real life situations which in this case is how society seems to portray a beautiful woman.
The tone of the poem shifts and changes dramatically in the following line: “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound”
Shakespeare writes that the mistress’ voice is not like the beauty of music, but the persona loves to hear her speak. Here the speaker indirectly pays his mistress a compliment. This change in tone indicates to the reader that in fact the first 8 lines are not discontent but truth.
The tone of the poem then becomes one of realism, contentment, light heartedness, seriousness and affection. In the following lines: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.”
Shakespeare realises that love is full of imperfections, yet that only makes love stronger. This is a realistic look at his mistress, not a usual love struck reflection in a poem of one’s love. He has come to realise that she is far from perfect, yet that does not take away from his love for her. It seems as though he is having an epiphany about the truth of love. Although he speaks of all her shortcomings, he is satisfied with his love.
Shakespeare is more straightforward and honest by saying that his mistress is nothing like those naturally, beautiful things, and that he believes his love is more pure towards her.
Question 3
I do not agree that the poet is mocking and making fun of the mistress’ looks.
At first glance the poet seems to be mocking his mistress looks, but as the poem progresses we realise that this is not the case.
This poem compares the poet’s lover to many beauties, examples:
• Line 1 – “the sun”
• Line 3 – “the snow”
• Line 5 – “damasked roses”
These comparisons are by no means in the lover’s favour. From the very beginning of the sonnet all the way through to line 10 it seems as if he is mocking his mistress and undermining her appearance.
Although he is mocking the elaborate comparisons typically made in his era, it is clear to see why many may think he is mocking his mistress.
As the poem progresses and we reach the surprise reversal in the rhyming couplet at the end of the poem we realise that this poem is in fact not mocking her. Here he declares that he adores her regardless of the world’s perception of beauty. The poet reveals that he loves her more than anyone who has ever “belied” her with “false compare”. Even though she fails to meet present day expectation of beauty, his lover for her is true and “rare”:
“and yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As many she belied with false compare”
He describes his love as rare and lets it be known that he has no need to make false comparisons about her beauty to let her know that he loves her and that she is just as amazing as any other woman falsely compared.
In conclusion I can confidently say that this sonnet does not mock his mistress in any way or form but rather mocks the world’s perception of beauty.
Question 4
It is unusual because it is the inverse of what a sonnet should be, where a sonnet praises beauty and uses white imagery, in this sonnet Shakespeare writes how ugly the woman is and also he uses very dark imagery. In many ways Shakespeare’s sonnet subvert and reverse the conventions of the Petrarchan’s love sequence: the idealising love poems, for instance, are not written to a perfect woman to an admittedly imperfect man, and the love poems to the dark lady are anything but idealising. This sonnet mocks the typical Petrarchan metaphors by presenting a speaker who seems to take them at face value, and somewhat bemusedly decides to tell the truth.
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (he admits that his mistress’ eyes are not like the sun unlike clichéd love poems)
“Coral is far more red than her lips’ red” (he doesn’t compliment his mistress as done so in love poems).........
In the first three quatrains of the poem the writer is gently mocking the clichéd love poems written by other authors.
The whole point of this poem is to push back against standard ways of talking about women in poems. Shakespeare seems to undo, discount or invalidate nearly every Petrarchan conceit about feminine beauty employed by his fellow sonneteers.

Question 5
“Black wires grow on her head” – personification
This line is personified because the ‘wire’ is given a human quality and the human ability to grow like hair on her head. Shakespeare’s comparison of hair to ‘wires’ would refer to the finely spun cold threads woven into fancy hair nets, this term was used as a benchmark of beauty.
Similes:
The poet often avoids direct similes; the focus is on the mistress rather than the similes, thus suggesting that reality is preferred to fantasy. The similes remain contradictive. Line 1 comprises of a negative simile because his says his mistress eyes are nothing like the sun instead of saying they are like the sun.
Metaphor:
Line 2: comparison between the colours of her lips to that of coral
Line 3: comparison between the colours of her breasts to that of snow
Line 4: the comparison of wire to her hair
Line 5 & 6: forms a continuous metaphor, comparing the colour of her cheeks to demasked roses.
In the above comparisons the poet uses aspects of nature in comparison to his mistress physical appearance.
Question 6
Yes, the criteria for women’s beauty, which are promoted in the poem and those in society, are similar. The poet mentions her eyes, lips, beasts, hair, cheeks, voice and the way she moves. In society, a woman is judged on the above mentioned aspects, in order to claim whether she is beautiful or not. A woman is regarded as beautiful if she has eyes that sparkle, red lips, nice breasts, rosy cheeks, soft silky hair, a melodious voice and walks with grace.
The poet however when describing the physical features of his mistress, uses comparisons which gives the reader the impression that his mistress is not beautiful. The comparison he makes is the total opposite of what society as a beautiful lady. He says her eyes are nothing like the sun, which means it does not sparkle, she does not have coral red lips and her breasts are dun. Instead of comparing her hair to something soft and silk, he says her hair is like wire. He further goes on to say that she does not have rosy cheeks and that her breath stinks. The image he creates of his mistress is not a very attractive one and thus society will deem her as not being beautiful.
In our society we have women who use worldly things to enhance their beauty. Some of the comparisons from the sonnet and society are as follows:
• “my mistress eyes are nothing like the sun”
In society women wear contact lenses to change the colour of their eyes
• “coral is far more red than her lips red’
Women use bright red lipstick to make their lips look coral red>
• “if I have roses damasked, red and white, but no such roses I see in her cheeks”
Women apply make up to their cheeks (blush) which make their cheeks look rosey.
Question 7
Though the sonnet may be negative, it has positive words towards the end. It clarifies that although reality can be quite different from our dreams and desires, or that relationships have their ups and downs, he knows that his love for his mistress is intense. He describes it as rare and he doesn’t need flowery terms or fancy comparisons to know that in his heart, plainly and simply, he has tremendous love for her.
There is a change in attitude, after all the criticism; in the final couplet the speaker shows some politeness. Even though he has brought attention to the many short comings of his love, he not only loves her, but also thinks highly of her than any woman who has ever been described favourably by the previously mentioned qualities.
The tone changes to that of politeness, kind heartedness and praise. This perfectly undoes the damage done by the criticism. The central theme is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and/or that it is the unusual characteristics of human beings which make them beautiful.
Conclusion:
Like many of Shakespeare 's sonnets, this poem is an expression of love. In order to express your love, you have to talk about it, define it, and examine it. In telling his mistress that he loves her, our speaker also has to give us an idea about what his love is like. This poem is partly about where love comes from, what motivates our feelings of affection for someone else. Specifically, it 's about finding love in spite of (or maybe even because of) physical flaws.
Bibliography:
 Seasons come to pass 2nd edition
By Helen Moffett and Es’kia Mphahlele
 World Wide Web
Sparknotes.com – analysis

Bibliography:  Seasons come to pass 2nd edition By Helen Moffett and Es’kia Mphahlele  World Wide Web Sparknotes.com – analysis