Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

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Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare

• Page 296

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Questions for thought

• Who is considered an ideal beauty in our
  culture?
• What made a woman an ideal beauty in
  Shakespeares time?

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Sonnet 130

• The speakers situation
• The speaker is describing a woman he cares about.
  He is very realistic about her looksshe does
  not fit the expectations of an ideal beauty in
  Renaissance England.

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Sonnet 130poetic devices

• The speaker uses imagery to describe the woman he
  loves.
• Each line (or pair of lines) contains a different
  image.

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• My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun.
• Paraphrase
• My mistress eyes are not bright and warm and
  life-giving, like the sunrather, they are dull
  and expressionless.

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• Coral is far more red than her lips red.
• Paraphrase
• Her lips are not bright red like coralthey are
  more of a dull flesh-color.

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red sea fan coral spreads behind a golden
damselfish in waters off Fiji

• From the National Geographic website

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From ivoryscrimshaw.com, which sells red coral
jewelry
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• If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun.
• Paraphrase
• Her skin is brownish, not fair and white like
  snow.

10

• If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her
  head.
• Paraphase
• Her hair is not golden and silkyit is dark, and
  thick and stiff like wire.

11

• I have seen roses damaskd, red and white, / but
  no such roses see I in her cheeks.
• Paraphrase
• I have seen roses in real lifeflowers of red and
  whitebut her cheeks do not have the bloom of
  roses.

12

• and in some perfumes is there more delight /
  than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
• Paraphrase
• Perfume smells better than her breath does.

13

• I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / that
  music hath a far more pleasing sound.
• Paraphrase
• I love to talk to her and listen to her, but her
  voice is not as pleasing and smooth as music.

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• I grant I never saw a goddess go, / my mistress,
  when she walks, treads on the ground.
• Paraphrase
• Ive admit Ive never seen a goddess who floats
  above the ground, but I know that my mistress
  plants her feet firmly on the ground when she
  walksshes not very graceful.

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• And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare /
  as any she belied with false compare.
• Paraphase
• Despite all this, I think the woman I love is
  just as special / as any other woman who is lied
  about with false comparisons in other poems.

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Images/reverse comparisons in sonnet 130

• Line 1 eyes not like the sun
• Line 2 lips not like red coral
• Line 3 skin not as white as snow
• Line 4 hair like black wires
• Lines 5-6 cheeks not like beautiful roses
• Lines 7-8 breath not like perfume
• Lines 9-10 voice not like music
• Lines 11-12 walking not graceful like a goddess

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Main idea

• A woman can be loved and special without being an
  ideal beauty.
• Many poems idealizing a womans beauty are
  exaggerated and false.