Poetry Readers

Brigadier

Brigadier · Jan 14, 2018

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 damasked, 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.

I wrote an essay on this for part of my final and I really liked it for a few reasons I've already told some people about. I brought along my school prompt because it's nice to point out some lines and to make the point of the humor used in this poem.

The lines "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" employ a humor device. Identify the device used and discuss its effect on the meaning and tone of the poem.

The humor is mainly why I like this poem and Shakespeare in general.
So my questions beyond the prompt I stole from my class are just the standard:
-likes and dislikes
-general thoughts
-whatever really
-I will discuss anything relating to this poem.

Sonnet 130

[quote]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 damasked, 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.[/quote]

I wrote an essay on this for part of my final and I really liked it for a few reasons I've already told some people about. I brought along my school prompt because it's nice to point out some lines and to make the point of the humor used in this poem.

[quote]The lines "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" employ a humor device. Identify the device used and discuss its effect on the meaning and tone of the poem.[/quote]

The humor is mainly why I like this poem and Shakespeare in general. 
So my questions beyond the prompt I stole from my class are just the standard: 
-likes and dislikes 
-general thoughts 
-whatever really 
-I will discuss anything relating to this poem.

BluesClues Officer

BluesClues · Jan 18, 2018

Oops, I forgot about this, but I see I am not alone.

We read this in school and discussed it, but...y'all know that was approximately a million years ago for me, so although I'm familiar with the poem itself I'm basically looking at it with fresh eyes.

If I'm understanding it, the narrator spends the poem sounding like he's insulting his lady friend, but in the couplet at the end - as is the way with sonnets - he turns it on its head by basically saying that she's too good to be compared to all the things people usually compare their loves to. Which is a fun way to do it, since he takes what are now cliches of love (although I don't know if they were yet in Shakespeare's day), negates them, and then shows that they don't really work if you actually think your lover is so awesome.

(I'm reading "rare" in this sense meaning "unusually good" as opposed to "hard to find.")

Or possibly he might be saying she's better than all the other ladies whose special someones compare them to things this way. The last line's wording gives me a hard time.

Oops, I forgot about this, but I see I am not alone.

We read this in school and discussed it, but...y'all know that was approximately a million years ago for me, so although I'm familiar with the poem itself I'm basically looking at it with fresh eyes.

If I'm understanding it, the narrator spends the poem sounding like he's insulting his lady friend, but in the couplet at the end - as is the way with sonnets - he turns it on its head by basically saying that she's too good to be compared to all the things people usually compare their loves to. Which is a fun way to do it, since he takes what are now cliches of love (although I don't know if they were yet in Shakespeare's day), negates them, and then shows that they don't really work if you actually think your lover is so awesome.

(I'm reading "rare" in this sense meaning "unusually good" as opposed to "hard to find.")

Or possibly he might be saying she's better than all the other ladies whose special someones compare them to things this way. The last line's wording gives me a hard time.

alliyah Admin

alliyah · Jan 18, 2018

*Desperately tries to recall whatever I may have learned in my semester-long course on Shakespeare many moons ago* And.... Yeah I can't remember discussing this one, but I remember reading it!

It's funny, whoever said Shakespeare's boring? He's actually a funny guy!

He's also mocking the false comparisons that people who are gushing about their loves tend to make, and shows the ridiculousness of such comparisons if taken literally.

I'm interpreting the final lines as saying that he really does love his mistress, but there's no comparison that can adequately 100% describe that love.

One of the best things I think about the poem is the really lovely iambic pentameter and rhyming - the poem is so lovely sounding, and I think that you expect the poem to be very serious and intent, but then you read the actual lines, and "what?" it's a joke! So it challenges your expectations while sounding nice at the same time.

I think it's funny that Shakespeare in his time was already challenging what was maybe considered cliche or ridiculous poetic writing (according to the all knowing spark-notes he was making fun of Petrarch's famous sonnet sequence), but sometimes people use Shakespeare's own poetic phrasing in ways that have since become stagnant or cliche (because of overuse) (ie. when people try to use some variation of "shall I compare thee to a summer's day"). I think this poem shows that Shakespeare realized that phrasing and forms can become cliche and that good poets should challenge those cliches.

*Desperately tries to recall whatever I may have learned in my semester-long course on Shakespeare many moons ago* And.... Yeah I can't remember discussing this one, but I remember reading it!

It's funny, whoever said Shakespeare's boring? He's actually a funny guy!

He's also mocking the false comparisons that people who are gushing about their loves tend to make, and shows the ridiculousness of such comparisons if taken literally.

I'm interpreting the final lines as saying that he really does love his mistress, but there's no comparison that can adequately 100% describe that love.

One of the best things I think about the poem is the really lovely iambic pentameter and rhyming - the poem is so lovely sounding, and I think that you expect the poem to be very serious and intent, but then you read the actual lines, and "what?" it's a joke! So it challenges your expectations while sounding nice at the same time.

I think it's funny that Shakespeare in his time was already challenging what was maybe considered cliche or ridiculous poetic writing (according to the all knowing spark-notes he was making fun of Petrarch's famous sonnet sequence), but sometimes people use Shakespeare's own poetic phrasing in ways that have since become stagnant or cliche (because of overuse) (ie. when people try to use some variation of "shall I compare thee to a summer's day"). I think this poem shows that Shakespeare realized that phrasing and forms can become cliche and that good poets should challenge those cliches.

alliyah Admin

alliyah · Jan 18, 2018

Oh! Here's the link for the SparkNotes article I referenced. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/s ... /section9/

William Shakespeare "My mistresses' eyes are nothing like the sun"

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