Snow is white, but the breasts of my beloved are ‘dun’ or dark (or black) to look at. The ‘coral’ (, a substance which is found in the sea and which has a deep red colour) looks redder than the redness of her lips. Poet says, the eyes of my beloved is not like sun, they not bright like sunlight. The idea and emotion which William Shakespeare tried to put in this work is “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”.

In this very sonnet, Shakespeare has seen satirizing the poets (of Elizabethan period and Petrarchan), who used to write about his beloved in ‘clichés style’ and praise them by comparing with nature. Sonnet 130 – “My Mistress’ eyes nothing like the sun”of Shakespeare is one of the best but different from other sonnets.Īccording to his way of writing sonnets, in the first 12 lines (three quatrains), it seems like poet is ‘criticizing’ his mistress (beloved)regarding her beauty but at the end of the poem, in the last two lines or couplet, one can find the actual settlementof poet.

The second series (127-154) consists of sonnets to or about a certain ‘dark mistress’ whom the poet in some sense loves, or has loved, but whom he also dislikes himself for loving. The first series (1-26) is addressed to a youth, or to a very young man, of great beauty, and Shakespeare’s sonnets consist of two clearly distinguishable series of sonnets. He was the “national poet” of England and called as the “Bard of Avon”. William Shakespeare (1564-1606)was known as the greatest dramatist, actor and poet of English Literary Renaissance. Sonnet 130 – “My Mistress’ eyes nothing like the sun”, is written by William Shakespeare, in the form of sonnet, a 14 lines poem, published in the collection of 154 sonnets in the year 1609. My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:Īnd yet, by heaven, I think my love as rareĪs any she belied with false compare. That music hath a far more pleasing sound I love to hear her speak, yet well I know Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I have seen rose damask’d, red and white,Īnd in some perfumes I there more delight If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. If now be white, why then her breasts are dun My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun 1.6 LITERARY TERMS USED IN THIS POEM SONNET 130 – “MY MISTRESS’ EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN”

William shakespeare sonnet 130