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Sonnet 130 Summary & Analysis by William Shakespeare

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
• Poetic Devices
• Vocabulary & References
• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
• Line-by-Line Explanations

"Sonnet 130" was written by the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Though most likely written in the 1590s, the poem wasn't published until 1609. Like many other sonnets from the same period, Shakespeare's poem wrestles with beauty, love, and desire. He tries to find a more authentic, realistic way to talk about these things in the sonnet, and gleefully dismisses the highly artificial poems of praise his peers were writing. Shakespeare's poem also departs from his contemporaries in terms of formal structure — it is a new kind of sonnet—the "Shakespearean" sonnet.

• Read the full text of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

The Full Text of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

1 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; 

2 Coral is far more red than her lips' red; 

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

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

5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white, 

6 But no such roses see I in her cheeks; 

7 And in some perfumes is there more delight 

8 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. 

9 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know 

10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound; 

11 I grant I never saw a goddess go; 

12 My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground. 

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

14    As any she belied with false compare.

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Summary

“sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” themes.

Beauty and Love

• See where this theme is active in the poem.

Love, Personality, and the Superficial

Line-by-line explanation & analysis of “sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”.

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. 

Lines 13-14

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

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Symbols

• See where this symbol appears in the poem.

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Parallelism

End-stopped line, “sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

Rhyme scheme, “sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” speaker, “sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” setting, literary and historical context of “sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”, more “sonnet 130: my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” resources, external resources.

Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady" — Read the full text of Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady," a rewriting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.

"Sonnet 130" Glossary — A glossary and commentary on Sonnet 130 from Buckingham University.

1609 Quarto Printing of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 — An image of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 as it appeared in its first printing, in 1609.

Reading of "Sonnet 130" — Ian Midlane reads "Sonnet 130" for the BBC, introduced by some smooth jazz.

Blazon Lady — See an image of Charles Berger's blazon lady and read Thomas Campion's contemporaneous blazon. 

Sidney's Astrophil and Stella #9 — Read the full text of Sidney's earlier blazon, Astrophil and Stella #9.  

LitCharts on Other Poems by William Shakespeare

Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Sonnet 129: Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame

Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time

Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth

Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes

Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws

Sonnet 20: A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted

Sonnet 27: "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed"

Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes

Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

Sonnet 33: Full many a glorious morning have I seen

Sonnet 45: The other two, slight air and purging fire

Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments

Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore

Sonnet 65 ("Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea")

Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead

Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold

Sonnet 94: "They that have power to hurt"

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Shakespeare's Sonnets

By william shakespeare, shakespeare's sonnets summary and analysis of sonnet 130 - "my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun".

What's he saying?

"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; / Coral is far more red than her lips' red;"

My mistress's eyes look nothing like the sun; coral is far more red than her lips are.

"If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; / If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head."

If snow is white, then her breasts are a dull brown (in comparison); if hairs are wires, then black wires grow on her head.

"I have seen roses damask'd, red and white / But no such roses see I in her cheeks;"

I have seen roses of pink, red, and white, but her cheeks are none of these colors;

"And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks."

And some perfumes smell more delightful than the malodorous breath of my mistress.

"I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / That music hath a far more pleasing sound;"

I love to hear her speak, even though I know well that music has a far more pleasing sound;

"I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:"

I admit I have never seen a goddess walk, but my mistress, when she walks, steps (humanly) on the ground:

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

And yet, I swear before heaven, I think she is just as extraordinary as any woman that may be described with false comparisons.

Why is he saying it?

Sonnet 130 is a pleasure to read for its simplicity and frankness of expression. It is also one of the few of Shakespeare's sonnets with a distinctly humorous tone. Its message is simple: the dark lady's beauty cannot be compared to the beauty of a goddess or to that found in nature, for she is but a mortal human being.

The sonnet is generally considered a humorous parody of the typical love sonnet. Petrarch, for example, addressed many of his most famous sonnets to an idealized woman named Laura, whose beauty he often likened to that of a goddess. In stark contrast Shakespeare makes no attempt at deification of the dark lady; in fact he shuns it outright, as we see in lines 11-12: "I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground." Here the poet explicitly states that his mistress is not a goddess.

She is also not as beautiful as things found in nature, another typical source of inspiration for the average sonneteer: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; / Coral is far more red than her lips' red." Yet the narrator loves her nonetheless, and in the closing couplet says that in fact she is just as extraordinary ("rare") as any woman described with such exaggerated or false comparisons. It is indeed this blunt but charming sincerity that has made sonnet 130 one of the most famous in the sequence.

However, while the narrator's honesty in sonnet 130 may seem commendable, we must not forget that Shakespeare himself was a master of the compliment and frequently made use of the very same sorts of exaggerated comparisons satirized here. We even find them elsewhere in the sonnets, and in great abundance, too; note that while his "mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun," his fair lord's indeed are, as in sonnet 49: "And scarcely greet me with that sun, thine eye."

This may lead one to wonder, is it really pure honesty that the poet is showing in sonnet 130, or is there also some ulterior sentiment, perhaps that the dark lady is not deserving of the narrator's fine words? Or perhaps she is deserving but such words are not necessary, as though the narrator feels comfortable enough with the dark lady that he is able to show such honesty (which his insecurity regarding the fair lord prevents him from doing)? There are many ways to interpret how the poet's psychological state may have influenced stylistic choices in his writing, but these sonnets do not provide definitive proof.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Shakespeare’s Sonnets is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Summary of sonnet 18

Here the theme of the ravages of time again predominates; we see it especially in line 7, where the poet speaks of the inevitable mortality of beauty: "And every fair from fair sometime declines." But the fair lord's is of another sort, for it...

Part A In Sonnet 12 (“When I do count the clock that tells the time”), what do the images of passing time make the speaker wonder about the person he addresses? a. Will that person’s beauty fade? b. Will that person’s fame endure? c. d. Will that person a

a. Will that person’s beauty fade?

What is the message of Sonnet 18?

Shakespeare's main message is that which will fade in life (beauty) can be immortalized in verse.... his poetry will live forever.

Study Guide for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets study guide contains a biography of William Shakespeare, literature essays, a complete e-text, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Shakespeare's Sonnets
• Shakespeare's Sonnets Summary
• Character List

Essays for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of various sonnets by William Shakespeare.

• Colonial Beauty in Sidney's "Astrophil and Stella" and Shaksespeare's Sonnets
• Beauty, As Expressed By Shakespeare's Sonnet 18
• From Autumn to Ash: Shakespeare's Sonnet 73
• Dark Beauties in Shakespeare's Sonnets and Sidney's "Astrophil and Stella"
• Human Discrepancy: Mortality and Money in Sonnet 146

Lesson Plan for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Shakespeare's Sonnets
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Shakespeare's Sonnets Bibliography

E-Text of Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Shakespeare's Sonnets e-text contains the full text of Shakespeare's Sonnets.

Wikipedia Entries for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

• Introduction

Sonnet 130 Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

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W hy's T his F unny?

Background of the Poem

Historical context.

 Shakespeare’s sonnet collection is usually divided into two parts. This division is made on the basis of the different people these sonnets address. The first part consists of 126 sonnets. These sonnets are addressed to a young guy. The speaker in these sonnets tells him about the mortality of life and the ways he can escape its clutches. These sonnets also stress the role of poetry in immortalizing its subjects. The second part consists of the remaining twenty-eight sonnets. The sonnets of this part are addressed to a female. This character is usually called “dark lady.” The speaker seems to have a troublesome relationship with her and speaks to her in a manner that is not typical of lovers. Sonnet 130 falls in this portion of the sonnet collection and is, therefore, considered to address this lady.  

Literary Context

Sonnet 130 summary (my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun), first quatrain.

The speaker opens the poem with the description of his mistress. He says that his mistress’s eyes are in no way comparable to the sun. He says that the sun is far more bright and beautiful than the ordinary eyes of his mistress. He goes on to describe another aspect of his mistress’s beauty by comparing her lips and cheeks to corals. However, this comparison does not go in his beloved’s favor as well. He says that the redness of corals is far more than the redness of his mistress’s cheeks and lips.

Second Quatrain

Third quatrain.

Furthermore, the speaker mocks the comparison of beloveds to goddesses. He says that he has never seen a goddess in his life. Therefore, he has no knowledge of how the goddesses walk. However, he says that he is sure about one thing. He knows that his mistress walks on earth. Therefore, he knows that his mistress cannot be compared to a goddess.  

Themes in Sonnet 130

Escape from idealism, sonnet 130 analysis.

In the third quatrain, the speaker continues the same pattern of satire and mocks further traditional analogies. He says that he can neither claim that his mistress’s voice is more delightful nor can he say that she walks like goddesses. In the last line of this quatrain, the speaker employs exaggerated alliteration to express his annoyance with these absurd notions.

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is traditional ababcdcdefefgg. The first twelve lines make three quatrains with an alternate sound pattern, and the last two lines make a rhyming couplet.

Literary Devices in Sonnet 130

Alliteration.

In the fourth line, the speaker compares his beloved’s hair to wires. In this line, there are two alliterative sound patterns. The first pattern is made by the words “be” and “black,” while the  second is made by the words “hair,” “her,” and “head.” This type of repetitive sounds at the start of the words exhibits the disagreement of the speaker with this type of comparison.

Here the /g/ sound is repeated three times in the line. Through this device, the speaker conveys his annoyance with the comparison of humans and gods.

In the poem, the speaker compares his mistress’s eyes to the sun in the first line.

More From William Shakespeare

Sonnet 130 Analysis Essay

Sonnet 130 is a poem written by William Shakespeare. Sonnet 130 is part of the Fair Youth Sonnets. Sonnet 130 talks about how the speaker will never love anyone as much as he loves his beloved (the “Fair Youth”). Sonnets are lyric poems that people commonly try to analyze through certain perspectives. Sonnets are usually written about a loved one, something the writer really cares about, or an idea that means something to them. Sonnet 130 is one of Shakespeare’s Sonnets.

Sonnet 130 talks about his complete love for somebody and how he will never love anybody as much as he loves this person. Sonnet 130 was written during the Renaissance Period by William Shakespeare. Sonnets were a popular form of short poems because it allowed people to express their emotions and thoughts in a way that could be interpreted differently depending on who you asked about them. Sonnet 130 is part of one of Shakespeare’s bigger collections known as The Fair Youth Sonnets, which talks about his complete love for a male subject referred to as “the young man” or “Fair Youth”.

Sonnet 130 goes into detail how he will never love anyone as much as he loves this person and then ends with a rhetorical question at the end asking himself why that is, since all other things have an end except love which has no limit so why does love have an end? Sonnet 130 is a poem written during the Renaissance Period and Sonnet 130 was written by William Shakespeare. Sonnet 130 talks about how nothing in life matters to him except his lover and that he will never love anyone as much as he loves them.

Sonnet 130 goes into detail about how no matter what happens, or what anyone else thinks of him, that they matter to him but his lover matters more than anything and everything. Sonnet 130 is a love poem written by William Shakespeare where he explains how nothing in the world matters to him other than his beloved (Fair Youth). Sonnets are poems that may be analyzed using different perspectives on who is reading it. Sonnets are usually written about a loved one, something that the writer really cares about, or an idea that may have meant something to them.

Sonnet 130 is part of William Shakespeare’s collection of Sonnets known as “The Fair Youth Sonnets”. Sonnet 130 talks about Shakespeare’s complete love for somebody and how he will never love anybody else as much as he loves them. Sonnet 130 talks about how nothing in life matters to him except his lover and that he will never love anyone else as much as he loves them. Sonnet 130 goes into detail on how no matter what happens, or who thinks of him, that they matter but his lover matters more than anything and everything.

Sonnet 130 starts out by saying “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”, Sonnet 130 starts out by saying how the speaker’s beloved’s eyes don’t even compare to the beautiful sky. Sonnet 130 then goes into detail that his lover is more radiant than any precious stone or gold because he says “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red”. Sonnet 130 ends with a rhetorical question asking himself why his lover matters so much even though everything in life has an end except love which does not have an end.

Sonnet 130 was written during the Renaissance Period and Sonnets were popular form of short poems during this time because it allowed people to express their feelings and thoughts in a way that could be interpreted differently depending on who you ask about it. Sonnet 130 is part of William Shakespeare’s collection known as “The Fair Youth Sonnets”. Sonnet 130 talks about how nothing in the world matters to him other than his beloved.

Sonnet 130 starts off by saying “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”, Sonnet 130 starts off by explaining how the speaker’s beloved’s eyes don’t even compare to something as beautiful as the sky. Sonnet 130 goes on say that his lover is more radiant than any precious stone or gold because he says “Coral is far more red than her lips’ red”. Sonnet 130 then ends with a rhetorical question asking why his lover means so much to him even though everything has an end except love which does not have an end.

Sonnet 130 goes on to say “One might think her poor, because she is so fair” Sonnet 130 goes on to say how she may seem like she doesn’t have any money but he explains that his beloved has more than enough. Sonnet 130 was written by William Shakespeare during the Renaissance Period and Sonnets were very popular form of short poems during this time because it allowed people to express their feelings and thoughts without having a certain meaning or way of thinking behind them since Sonnets were ambiguous. Sonnet 130 talks about how nothing in life matters except for his beloved.

Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare, one of the most famous and quoted Sonnets. The Sonnets are a collection of 154 poems published in 1609 and dedicated to “the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets Mr. W.H.” Sonnet 130 is also known as “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” Sonnet 130 is written in the English Language, Sonnets are poems that have 14-lined rhymed stanzas. Sonnet 130 can be found in 1609 book by William Shakespeare called Sonnets.

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 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. Sonnet 130 is an English Sonnet written by William Shakespeare that talks about how he feels his lover isn’t nearly as wonderful as other men claim their lovers are. Sonnet 130 is one of 154 sonnets known today as Sonnets from the Portuguese, which were published in 1609 . Sonnets are 14 line poems that have rhyming couplets at the end of every two lines.. There are three quatrains and one couplet at the end of Sonnet 130. Sonnet 130 has an English ABABCDCDEFEFGG form. There are three quatrains in Sonnet 130. Sonnet 130 is written in iambic pentameter, which means that there are ten syllables per line with each line having one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable, except for the tenth line that has two stressed syllables to conclude the couplet. The rhyme scheme used in Sonnet 130 is AABCCCDDEEFFE.

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Sonnet 130 Analysis

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Published: Mar 13, 2024

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Many of my classmates believe that Shakespeare was saying that, although this girl is ugly, he still loves her. While others claim that he was not making any statements about her looks, but instead being realistic. It is my view that he was making a point of claiming that his girlfriend was a regular person and not a mythological goddess. Most people have heard on television or in movies , some guy tell his girlfriend that she has eyes as deep as the ocean or lips as soft as velvet.

So it seams obvious that to them perfume smelled better that any part of a person. He then says that music sounds better than her voice. This was probably true as well, unless she was an opera singer whos every word sounded like an aria. Some people will claim that he likened her breasts to excrement (dun). I think that he was making an analogy. He was saying that her skin is closer to the color brown than to white. I think that Shakespeare was making a contention against the style of poetry of the time which was of the romantic movement , particular to the Elizabethan era.

This sonnet and most of his other sonnets seem to be of the realist movement, which leans toward stating things as they are and not as they appear to be. In conclusion, I dont see any evidence that he was saying that she was ugly. I see that he was making a literary stand against what was popular at the time (and what is still popular in our culture). It is a fallacy of reason to state that since an author says that something is not true, that the opposite must be true. It think that he was making point to keep his view of this girl in perspective.

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