SONNET
130
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PARAPHRASE
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My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
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My
mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun;
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Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
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Coral is
far more red than her lips;
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If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
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If snow is
white, then her breasts are a brownish gray;
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If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
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If hairs
are like wires, hers are black and not golden.
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I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
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I have
seen damask roses, red and white [streaked],
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But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
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But I do
not see such colors in her cheeks;
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And in some perfumes is there more delight
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And some
perfumes give more delight
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Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
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Than the
horrid breath of my mistress.
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I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
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I love to
hear her speak, but I know
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That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
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That music
has a more pleasing sound.
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I grant I never saw a goddess go;
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I've never
seen a goddess walk;
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My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
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But I know
that my mistress walks only on the ground.
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And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
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And yet I
think my love as rare
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As any she belied with false compare.
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As any
woman who has been misrepresented by ridiculous comparisons.
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ANALYSIS
dun (3): i.e., a dull brownish gray.
roses damasked, red and white (5): This line is possibly an allusion to the rose known as
the York and Lancaster variety, which the House of Tudor adopted as its
symbol after the War of the Roses. The York and Lancaster rose is red and
white streaked, symbolic of the union of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the
White Rose of York. Compare The Taming of the Shrew: "Such war of
white and red within her cheeks!" (4.5.32). Shakespeare mentions the
damask rose often in his plays. Compare also Twelfth Night:
She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek. (2.4.118)
than the breath...reeks (8): i.e., than in the breath that comes out of (reeks from)
my mistress.
As the whole sonnet is a parody of the conventional love sonnets written by Shakespeare's contemporaries, one should think of the most common meaning of reeks, i.e., stinks. Shakespeare uses reeks often in his serious work, which illustrates the modern meaning of the word was common. Compare Macbeth:
Except they meant to bathe in
reeking wounds
Or memorise another Golgotha, I cannot tell. (1.2.44)
rare (13): special.
she (14): woman.
belied (14): misrepresented.
with false compare (14): i.e., by unbelievable, ridiculous comparisons.
__________
Sonnet 130 is the poet's pragmatic
tribute to his uncomely mistress, commonly referred to as the dark lady
because of her dun complexion. The dark lady, who ultimately betrays the
poet, appears in sonnets 127 to 154. Sonnet 130 is clearly a parody of the
conventional love sonnet, made popular by Petrarch and, in particular, made
popular in England by Sidney's use of the Petrarchan form in his epic poem Astrophel
and Stella.
If you compare the stanzas of Astrophel
and Stella to Sonnet 130, you will see exactly what elements of the
conventional love sonnet Shakespeare is light-heartedly mocking. In Sonnet
130, there is no use of grandiose metaphor or allusion; he does not compare
his love to Venus, there is no evocation to Morpheus, etc. The ordinary
beauty and humanity of his lover are important to Shakespeare in this sonnet,
and he deliberately uses typical love poetry metaphors against themselves.
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Thus, Shakespeare is using all the techniques available, including the sonnet structure itself, to enhance his parody of the traditional Petrarchan sonnet typified by Sidney’s work. But Shakespeare ends the sonnet by proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of adornment, so he does finally embrace the fundamental theme in Petrarch's sonnets: total and consuming love.
One final note: To Elizabethan readers, Shakespeare's comparison of hair to 'wires' would refer to the finely-spun gold threads woven into fancy hair nets. Many poets of the time used this term as a benchmark of beauty, including Spenser:
Some angel she had been,
Her long loose yellow locks like golden wire,
Sprinkled with pearl, and pearling flowers atween,
Do like a golden mantle her attire,
And being crowned with a garland green.
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