WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

MY MISTRESS EYES

Sonnet 130-CXXX

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.

THE TEXT

Shakespeare is considered the undisputed master of the English sonnet form, and while he has written better sonnets than 'My Mistress' Eyes', this one is particularly interesting for the twist it applies to the usual love poem. Infact with this sonnet Shakespeare wanted to criticize the Petrarchan poetry which exalted the love and above all the beauty of loved-woman. The reader has to try to understand the text seeing it by a comical view. His woman is narrated by Shakespeare himself not like a beautiful one but very ugly. Making it, the author uses many metaphors and comparisons to create a vivid image of a hideous woman. The message discovered under this sonnet's words is that love and beauty are not neccessarily related and a man can love a woman still if she is not spendour like an angel or she doesn't move like a goddess (like the petrarchan one). At the end infact Shakespeare contradicts everything he has said before and states that despite her ugliness in almost every possible way, he loves her for what she is on the inside.

THE SONNET IS COMPOSED BY: AN OCTAVE AND A SESTET

RHYME SCHEME: IAMBIC PENTAMETER ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG

TURNING POINTS: VV.13-l4 (COUPLET)

TERMS OF ISON:

Ø  mistress' eyes - the sun

Ø  the coral- her lips

Ø  the snow- her breasts

Ø  her hair - the wires

Ø  roses damasked - her cheeks

Ø  some perfumes - her breathe

Ø  her speake - pleasing sounds

Ø  her walking - a Goddess