Time Period Poem
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lip's 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 I see in her cheeks;
And is 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.
Inside Shakespeare's sonnets there are hidden puns and metaphors within fourteen lines and a rhyme pattern of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. This particular Shakespearean sonnet has lines that are made up of comparing parts. For example, "Coral is far more red" compares to "her lip's red" or "If snow be white," comparing to "why then her breasts are dun". Sonnet "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" is split up into four quatrains -- four lines that make up a stanza or a grouping of lines in a poem -- and then a couplet. Shakespeare tends to have the couplet at the end of the poem be the "answer" of the sonnet, which is made up of puzzling metaphors and similies. Another trick that Shakespeare uses is puns, such as the pun on "sun" in the first line. This is a pun on the other version of the word "sun" -- "son". The word son is supposed to be a hint to "Son of God", referring to the religious views of women and love before the Elizabethan time period. People would used to get married not because of love, but because of God. Before this period of time, women were nothing more than property. Shakespeare was a founder of time where women were starting to be looked at as something that could be loved so this was a very romantic time period. Also a hint of the time period, the phrases "roses", "cheeks", "lip's red", and "white" are all symbols of innocence; symbols that also point to God and love.
As shown in this poem, this time period was about bringing back nature, religion, and the Human Condition. Using the repition of comparing his mistress to nature, Shakespeare's sonnet comes to the conclusion that even though his mistress cannot be remotely compared to nature, she is loved just as any woman that is wrongly compared to nature -- something that no one can truly be compared to. Showing the Human Condition in Shakespeare's love for his companion. Even though Shakespeare does not need to compare his mistress to items of nature as most men do, and although his love is not beautiful, their love is rare this way and she is his true love.
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