Sonnet 130-My Mistress Eyes are

Nothing Like the Sun by William

Shakespeare
Ci Xin
Jessica
Sherleen
Hilal

Features
My/ mis/tress/ eyes /are /no/thing /like /the /sun;
Co/ral /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 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.
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;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she, belied with false compare.

Poetic Form:
Regular: 10 syllable
for each line
three stanzas of four
lines and one rhyming
couplet.

Rhyme Scheme
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
William Shakespeare

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

a
Coral is far more red than her lips' red: b
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; a
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. b
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
c
But no such roses see I in her cheeks; d
And in some perfumes is there more delight
c
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. d
I love to hear her speak,--yet well I know
e
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
f
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
e
My mistress when she walks, treads on the ground;
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
g
As any she, belied with false compare. g

Rhythm and Meter

~
/ ~
/
~ / ~ / ~ /
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
~ / ~ /
~ /
~ / ~ /
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
Iambic pentameter

Quatrains

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun

William Shakespeare

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.

Type of sensory imagery demonstrated: Sight

Quatrains
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
William Shakespeare

...
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.

Type of sensory imagery demonstrated: Smell

Quatrains
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun
William Shakespeare

...
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;

Type of sensory imagery demonstrated: Sound

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

Irony
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 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.
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;

The final couplet

serve as an
ironic twist for
the conclusion.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she, belied with false compare.

Language Use
Simple but contrast languages
Irony and Satire yet authentic
Powerful and leave an impact

Effectiveness?
Very effective
leaves impacts on the readers.
Realistic

Sincere

It informs readers what true love means.

Love him/her for who he/she is
BUT
not what you want him/her to be

Themes
Loving one another's imperfections.
The poet explains that although his mistress is
imperfect, he finds his love special and 'rare.'
He talks about her eyes being nothing like the
sun, her lips not red as coral, her breasts not up
to his standards, her cheeks being pale, and the
fact that he likes music better then her voice.

Themes contd.
He even rudely talks about how her hair is like

wires and her breath is bad.

Although he points out all these things about
his love, he still loves to hear her.
Shakespeare used his sonnets to explore
different types of love between the young man
and the speaker, the young man and the dark
lady, and the dark lady and the speaker.

Real Beauty vs. Clichd Beauty

Traditionally, sonnets transform women into the
most glorious creatures to walk the earth.
Shakespeare makes fun of the convention by
contrasting an idealized woman with a real
woman.
He concludes by saying that he loves her all the
more precisely because he loves her and not some
idealized, false version.
Real love, the sonnet implies, begins when we
accept our lovers for what they are as well as what
they are not.

Issues Raised
Time as an enemy of love.
Time destroys love because time causes beauty
to fade, people to age, and life to end.

Issues Raised contd.

Our sight causing us to misperceive
reality.
Ultimately, Shakespeare uses eyes to act as a
warning.

Our eyes allow us to perceive beauty, they

sometimes get so captivated by beauty that
they cause us to misjudge character and other
attributes not visible to the naked eye.
Dont judge a person by its cover.

Thank you.
Have a nice day!