William Shakespeares Sonnet 130

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William Shakespeares Sonnet 130

• Ms. Hettingers Model

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William Shakespeares LifeApril 23, 1564 April
23, 1616

• Born to a Catholic family during turbulent times
  in England.
• Married Anne Hathaway when she was 26 and he was
  18. Scholars believe he married her for love.
• While Shakespeare went to London to make a
  living, he allegedly had a dark mistress.
• Rumors of Shakespeare being bisexual are refuted
  by many critics who attest that his poems to a
  young boy were actually written shortly after the
  death of his son, Hamnet. Therefore, those poems
  are written to him.

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Sonnet 130

• 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 damasked, 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.

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Sonnet 130 Paraphrase

• My mistress's eyes are nothing like the
  sunCoral is much redder than her lipsIf snow
  is white, then her breasts are a brownish
  grayIf hairs are like wires, hers are black
  (wiry) and not golden.I have seen damask roses,
  red and white streaked,But not in her
  cheeksAnd perfumes give more delightThan her
  breath.I love to hear her speak, but I knowThat
  music has a more pleasing sound.I've never seen
  a goddess walkBut I know that my mistress walks
  only on the ground.And yet I think my love as
  rareAs any woman who has been misrepresented by
  ridiculous comparisons.

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Sonnet 130Themes

• Queen Elizabeth Is look was extremely popular.
• White skin was considered a sign of wealth and
  beauty
• Red lips and cheeks were popular
• Red and/or blonde hair were immensely popular.

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Sonnet 130Themes

• Shakespeares mistress, however, has dun
  breasts, wires for hairs. Her eyes are
  nothing like the sun.
• Despite the fact that his mistress does not fit
  into what is considered Elizabethan beauty,
  Shakespeare attests that his love for her is
  beyond compare.
• Shakespeare is clearly mocking the notion of
  Elizabethan beauty as being the only form of
  beautiful, and the idea that beauty must be
  physical.

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Poetic Devices

• Shakespearean sonnet
• high poetic form.
• Scansion
• iambic pentameter
• ab ab cd cd ef ef
• quatrains
• gg
• rhyming couplet
• Imagery
• Sensory
• Tone
• Light, mocking

• 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 damasked, 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.

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Cleva by Erykah Badu Contemporary Comparison

• This is how I look without makeup
• And with no bra my ninny's sag down
• low
• My hair ain't never hung down to my
• shoulders
• And it might not grow
• Ya' never know
• But I'm clever when I bust a rhyme
• I'm cleva always on ya' mind
• She's cleva and I really wanna grow
• But why come you're the last to know?
• I got a little pot in my belly
• So now a days my figure ain't so fly
• My dress ain't cost nothin' but seven
• dollars

• But I made it fly
• And I'll tell ya why
• But I'm clever when I bust a rhyme
• I'm cleva always on ya' mind
• She's cleva and I really wanna grow
• But why come I'm the last to know?Alright,
  alright, alrightAlright, alright,
  alrightAlright, alright, alrightAlright,
  alright, alright yeahAlright with meSaid that
  I'm alright with meSaid that I'm alright with
  meSaid that I'm alright with meSaid that I'm
  alright with meSaid that I'm alright with me

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Shakespeare Relevant Today?(You bet.)

• Shakespeare clearly looked beyond physical beauty
  when choosing a mistress (or even a wife).
  Perhaps his most important idea in this poem is
  that beauty is more than physical.
• My guess is that Shakespeare would have found
  endless beauty in a cleva woman especially
  one who could bust a rhyme.