Sonnet 130: My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun
Written By William Shakespeare
My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun was published in 1609. The sonnet satirises the concept real picturesqueness that was the main conversion of art and literature in the writer’s period. The sonnet further compares the poet’s mistress to variety of beautiful women saying “the beauty of his mistress is obviously inadequate for such comparisons”.
In the last couplet, the writer made it known that his mistress us as unique as any beauty with whom she is compared to at by artists. He says “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare; As any she belied with false compare”.
Poem
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.
Poet Nazir is a writer and an editor here on ThePoetsHub. Outside this space, he works as a poet, screenwriter, author, relationship adviser and a reader. He is also the founder & lead director of PNSP Studios, a film production firm.
