My Mistress' eyes are Nothing Like the Sun| Shakespearean Sonnet| Summary, Analysis

 As an Elizabethan sonneteer Shakespeare is known as a father. Sometimes his sonnets raise up a question against that contemporary society. 

It is said that Shakespeare took interest of writing a satire through a poem that is called a sonnet. Sonnet no. 

Sonnet 130 "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun by William Shakespeare is producing an empathy to his love. The title of the poem conduct the mind of the readers about love.

Summary 

Sonnet is a style of writing poems that will have a total of fourteen lines. Sonnet 130 "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun by William Shakespeare" begins with the line that is written in the title.

Sonnet 130 "My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun by William Shakespeare |Andrea Piacquadio

By this statement, the poem wants to say that his mistress have a pair of eyes that does not look like very bright like the sun. Again the poet is saying that coral is more red than the lips of his beloved. 

“If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.”

So, these are genuine facts that are not being highlighted. Then further the poem states if the snow is very white and faded then why the breasts of the beloved are so black or so deemed? 

Maybe through this lines wants to say that the beloved has curly hairs. Probably Shakespeare’s beloved was an African woman because the descriptions of her body is addressing that. 

Then the poet utters that he had seen many roses with many colours but poet have never seen the red or pink on the cheeks of her beloved. As the beloved is brown this is why her cheeks are dark and redless. 

“And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.”

By these two lines he talks about the perfume that is more tantalising than the smell of her beloved’s reeks. So, for a while readers will think that Shakespeare is satirizing her beloved’s beauty. 

But in the Elizabethan sonneters usually exaggerate their beloved’s beauty. Probably this is the reason of making such common and sometimes negetive descriptions. 

Again the poet utters that he love to hear the voice of his beloved but except for that there are many music which are pleasant than the voice of the beloved. 

Poet’s description is making the beloved a normal human being not a goddess. Even when she walks sands get attached on her feet that is does not happen to a goddess. So, the poet loves that woman of black skin and wired hairs. 

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

   As any she belied with false compare.”

So then comes the last lines where Shakespeare himself utters that she is as woman as the others are and she genuinely do not have anything like a goddess. 

Even the poet do not need to exaggerate her beauty because the love for the beloved is pure that goes not need any exaggeration. This is the main motive of the poet. This is how this sonnet ends.

Analysis 

Sonnet 130 My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun by William Shakespeare is written to break the rule of exaggeration. At that contemporary society Edmund Spencer, and other sonneters use to portray their beloved’s beauty like they are goddesses. 

But Shakespeare here made genuine comments to portray her beloved as a soft, natural human being. According to the critics Shakespeare’s motive is to cross the boundary. 

Here, he utters that her beloved is simple and her eyes does not look like the sun. Still he loves his beloved. The love for the beloved is pure that does not need any exaggeration.

Theme

The prime theme of the poem is genuineness. Shakespeare is not satirizing the beloved by uttering negative words. More than that Shakespeare is giving a stress on his love. 

His love for the beloved is pure and flawless that does not need an exaggeration. Poet is highlighting his love for this brown lady. 

True is has also becomes a theme of this poem that is expressed in the couplet. Thus, Shakespeare’s sonnet achieves the clap of the readers.