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Sonnet CXXXBy : SHAKESPEARE

An unconventional love poem about the “Dark Lady”

PRESENTED BY:-BBM – A (2014-17)GROUP 11 KUMARI HARSHITAPRITESH REDDY VISHWASAIYASH GOVILGAURAV DEYMARUTESH

What is a sonnet?A sonnet is a 14 line poem which traditionally is used as a way to declare love for someone – you

say brilliant things about them and tell them how much you love them!

What sort of things would you put in a sonnet? Think of ways to compliment someone – did

they feature in your original list of love poetry?

Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. The lady spoken about in this sonnet is featured in

Sonnets 127 to 154. she is known as ‘The Dark Lady’

Early sonnets are based on the Petrarchan model (which follows a different rhyme scheme),

however, the focus of the sonnet remains the same – idolising the woman and making her an

‘inspiration’.

SONNET CXXXMy 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 delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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 rareAs any she belied with false compare.

EXPLAINATION

She has dark eyes, her lips are not red. Her breasts are

not as white as snow and she has black hair She has

pale cheeks, he is also saying that her breath doesn’t

smell as good as some perfumes. He loves to hear her

speak, but he knows that music has a more pleasing

sound than her voice; He’s never seen a goddess

walk, but he knows that she walks only on the ground.

Even though she is not special, his love for her is still

unique

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 delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound;

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



The poet is satirising the tradition of comparing one’s love to all things beautiful, divine and immortal.

He makes many negative comparisons.

But these final lines suggest that she is beyond all these things just by being herself: mortal and approachable.

Rare = precious, superb, of fine and unusual quality

He thinks that his love is more special, than those which are based on superficial comparisons.

Shakespeare does follow traditional English sonnets as Sonnet 130 as 14 lines and it follows the rhyming scheme ABABCDCD etc. By using the tradition rhyme scheme of English Sonnets, Shakespeare can be said to be using it to parody the hyperbolic nature in which poets expressed

their love for others.

FORM

POETIC FEATURESThe poet uses parallelism to compare his love to the standards of ladies in

Petrarchan poetry ‘If snow be white, why her breasts are dun’. The effect of the parallelism is it makes the contents of the poem clear and the audience

knows exactly why the poet dissatisfied with his love.

There is a lot of negative imagery in this sonnet. By creating imagery then not continuing with it and then describing a new image, Shakespeare builds up the poem and brings it back down, creates drama and keeps the reader’s

interest as they want to know where the poem will go next.

The effect of the tripling ‘damasked, red and white,’ builds up the beauty the poet has seen in the rose. By building up the beauty in the rose, it causes a sharp contrast between the rose and the poet’s love, who does not measure

up when compared to the rose.

In this poem as in many poems roses symbolise romance. In this poem Shakespeare uses the rose to compare idealised romance ‘I have seene Roses

damaskt’ to reality ‘no such Roses see I in her cheeks’.

Summary of Sonnet CXXX:• In this sonnet Shakespeare compares his lover to a

number of other beauties—and never in the lover’s favor. According to him;

• Her eyes are “nothing like the sun”

• her lips are less red than coral

• compared to white snow, her breasts are dun-colored

• her hairs are like black wires on her head

• In the second quatrain, the speaker says

• he has seen roses separated by color (“damasked”) into red and white, but he sees no such roses in his mistress’s cheeks

• he says the breath t “reeks” from his mistress and is less delightful than perfume

SUMMARY CONTINUED….

In the third quatrain, he admits that, though he loves her voice, music “hath a far more

pleasing sound” that, though he has never seen a goddess, his mistress—

unlike goddesses—walks on the groundIn the couplet, however, the speaker declares that, “by

heaven,” he thinks his loveas rare and valuable

“As any she belied with false compare”—that is, any love in which false comparisons were invoked to

describe the loved one’s beauty

COMPARISONIn this sonnet, Shakespeare draws on

sight, sound and smell when he compares

his mistress' eyes to the sun

her lips to red coral

her breasts to white snow

her hair to black wires

her cheeks to red and white roses

her breath to perfume

her voice to music

COMPARISON (CONTINUED…)

Shakespeare comparing her to natural objects, he notes that

her eyes are "nothing like the sun," and

the colors of her lips and breasts dull when compared to the red of coral and the whiteness of snow

her smell reeks – The ideal woman in a poem probably isn't supposed to smell at all, unless she smells like

perfume, here she has a stench- foul breath

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground

that her hair is black, he describes them in a derogatory way ,"black wires grow on her head’