'Sonnet 130' by William Shakespeare

Sonnet

• Rigid structure

• Four stanzas 

• First three stanza quatrain

• Fourth stanza couplet 

• Rhyme scheme 

• ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

• Each line must have 10 syllables

• Alternating stresses and unstresses

• Five pairs 

• Iambic Pentameter

Shakespeare Sonnet 

• 150 sonnets 

• Weren’t very popular

• Themes: Love, death is inevitable,  time is transient

• Sonnet 130 is a humorous take on romantic poetry 

• Like other romance poems, Sonnet 130 uses similes and metaphors. However, Sonnet 130 doesn’t use hyperboles and it overall isn’t very romantic.It is actually a very l

Dun = pale brown 

Damask’d = decorated 

Modern translation

My lover’s eyes are no way near as bright as the sun 

Coral is far redder and prettier than her lips

Unlike the white pretty snow, her breasts are pale brown and grey 

Her hair is thick, hard and black like wires

I know of beautiful red and white roses 

Her cheeks are not rosy at all 

There are more delightful smells in perfumes 

Than in my lover’s stinky breath 

I love to hear her speak, but music

Has a far more pleasant sound 

I have never seen a goddess 

Because when my lover walks, she treads like a heavy animal 

Still though, I think my love is special 

As she still beats those exaggerated cliches 

Theme: candid ode to his lover, challenges conventional love poetry 

Technique	Example	Effect
Simile	Nothing like the sun	Surprisingly conveys the lover’s eyes lack the brightness and beauty of the sun, thus transcending past romantic cliches
Metaphor	Black wires grow her head	Brutally demonstrates the lover has hard, black and thick hair not typically considered attractive
Irony	I grant I never saw a goddess go, my mistress treads on the ground	Humorously illustrates the lover has heavy footsteps and doesn’t possess the grace of a goddess at all
Juxtaposition	In some perfumes there is there more delight Than in the breath of my mistress reeks	Hilariously portrays the lover has an offensive breath, much unlike sweet smelling and delightful perfumes
Rhyming couplet Allusion	And yet by heaven,I think my love as rare  As any belied with false compare	Sincerely exhibits the speaker’s love for the subject is angelic and how he believes she far supersedes romantic cliches

PEEL/ STEEL paragraphs (contains connectives)

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 is a candid ode to his lover, challenges conventional love poetry. For instance, Shakespeare opens with the simile, ‘my mistress eyes are nothing like the sun’, surprisingly conveying how the lover’s eyes lack the brightness and beauty of the sun, thus transcending past romantic cliches . In a brutally honest confession, the metaphor ‘black wires grow on her head demonstrates the lover has hard, black and thick hair which is not typically considered attractive. Furthermore, ‘In some perfumes there is more delight than in the breath of my mistress reeks’,  Hilariously portrays the lover has an offensive breath, much unlike sweet smelling and delightful perfumes. Moreover,  Shakespeare humorously illustrates that the lover has heavy footsteps and doesn’t possess the grace of a goddess at all, in the ironic comparison between the mistress against a goddess in lines 11 - 12. In the final rhyming couplet, he makes an allusion to the heavens, ‘And yet by heaven,I think my love as rare\ As any belied with false comparison.’ Therefore, Shakespeare sincerely exhibits the speaker’s love for the subject is angelic and he confesses she far supersedes romantic cliches.