Critque of William Shakespeare Sonnet 130

A detailed Summary of Critque of William Shakespeare Sonnet 130

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, sonnets were the most popular form of circulating poetry, and thus William Shakespeare (1564-1616) composes his own lengthy sonnet cycle, concentrating only on a handful of themes. With the traditional, or Italian, style dominating the poetic forum, Shakespeare composes Sonnet 130 a completely novel sonnet, altering the Italian form. Moreover in Sonnet 130, "My mistresses eyes are nothing like the sun", Shakespeare mocks the traditional expression of love, yet successfully expresses his own love.

Shakespeare modifies the Italian sonnet, with four quatrains and an ending couplet, into what has become known as his own distinctive style of Shakespearean sonnets. But even that is deviated from with Sonnet 130. To begin, the sonnet instantly goes into comparisons of " his mistress" to various natural items of the world, none of which she matches. Her attributes, hair, eyes, lips, breasts, are all made with brutal comparison to a physical, or even more accurately, tangible aspect of the world, and the evaluation is less than promising. The opening line introduces the harsh reality that the woman's "eyes are nothing like the sun," immediately asserting the inferiority of the woman. The

In the ending couplet, as is traditional with the Shakespearean sonnets, a climactic judgment occurs, focusing the true purpose of the poem on the last two lines. Gaining credibility once again, Shakespeare refers to "by heaven," in coordination with the corresponding conjunctions "And yet," to mark the change in tone and theme. He does not "know," as he did before when making earthly comparisons, but rather he "think[s] [his] love as rare / As any she belied with false compare." Here lies the ironic finale of the poem, leading into the reason, true love, and the underlying sentiment for this piece of writing. Saying that his love, his mistress, is as rare and as any other mistress who has been elevated by poetic untruths and false comparisons of her beauty, Shakespeare both mocks of the traditional sonnet yet expresses the same devotion that the other sonneteers do.

By deflating the traditional metaphors of love, in the standard sonnet and making increasingly mundane comparisons from nature to knowledge, Shakespeare transforms a seeming diatribe into a profession of love. The theme of the sonnet, consistent with most, embraces love, but love with a twist. He writes not of the lost love that passed one by, or of his lover's eyes compared to the swirls on the surface of Venus. Shakespeare describes his "mistress," not "lover," to items of more natural beauty, only to make false comparisons. In his mockery of the traditional blazon, however, he concludes the poem with his love more rare than any false comparisons to women unworthy of such praise.

A change enhances the seminal line of the

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Approximate Word count = 1087
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English