Sonnet CXXX

Melissa LopezJonathan Ledon

Quatrain 1 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.

Interpretation She has dark

eyes, her lips are not red. Her breasts are not as white as snow and she has black hair.

Quatrain 2 I have seen roses

damask’d, 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.

Interpretation

She has pale cheeks, he is also saying that her breath doesn’t smell as good as some perfumes.

Quatrain 3 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.

Interpretation He loves to hear

her speak, but he knows that music has a more pleasing sound than her voice; He’s never seen a goddess walk, but he knows that she walks only on the ground.

Couplet 1

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare. As any she belied with false compare

Interpretation

Even though she is not special, his love for her is still unique

Shakespeare’s View on Love

Shakespeare considers his love to be unique. He focuses on all his mistresses’ flaws, but he still loves her. He expresses her qualities in a negative way, yet he still loves everything about her. In this sonnet Shakespeare is mocking his mistress.

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 damask’d, red and white,

but not 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 I will 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