I understand your confusion with this sonnet, and
Shakespearean sonnets in general. The beauty often lies in the complexity, which makes
them so great once you've figured them out. In the meantime, they can definitely be
tricky.
Sonnet 130 is one such sonnet. Here, Shakespeare
is actually using some common imagery from his time to do two things. First, he is
describing the beauty of this "mistress." Second, he is making fun of all other poets
and poetry by taking several cliche images and showing--ironically--that this mistress'
beauty surpasses all of these natural elements. In fact, based on the ironic nature of
this sonnet alone, I think perhaps Shakespeare would be a little offended by the cliche
comparison of this piece to the "don't judge a book by its cover"
theme.
Nevertheless, the comparison is there. The sonnet
opens with
My
mistress' eyes are nothing like the
sun.
This
image is then built on with further images of comparison, each growing slightly more
brazen ("breath that from my mistress reaks" and "music hath a far more pleasing sound"
than her voice). On first reading, it sounds like the speaker here
doesn't think much of his mistress at all. She first appears to be ugly, stinky, and
noisy.
But then,
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as
rare
As any she belied with false compare.
The speaker finishes by
giving an even higher tribute to the mistress than if he had simply compared her to
roses and music and coral. The real message is to every other romantic poet, accused
here of making "false" comparisons for the women in their poetry. This sonnet says,
basically, I have such a wonderfully rare love, that comparing her to the same
old images that everyone else uses actually wouldn't be good enough for
her.
No comments:
Post a Comment