Give the people what they want ... they come trying to copy for homework

By far the most common search terminology that leads to my sight is "my mistress eyes meaning". This, and variations of searches concerning the title of Shakespeare's Sonnet CXXX, leads me to believe that I really need to appease these searchers who are hard at work laboring for minutes upon minutes to find an internet site that gives free papers for copying.

I love Sonnet 130, but over the years it has become one of the "greatest hits" of the 150. Most people know "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" (or at least know the first line), but when TV writers have shows with students in high school, inevitably this is the sonnet they pick to be written on the blackboard while students decide which of their classmates to murder and which to have sex with (hopefully not in that order). At least, that's what I get from watching FOX promotional material for "The O.C." I may be wrong.

At any rate, from the depths of crudity, let's get the immortal verse.

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

So, what's this sonnet about? This is one of the sonnets of the oft-called "Dark Lady" set. Possibly you think of all sonnets as being about simple love, over and over. In fact, Shakespeare's sonnets have at least two different intended subjects. And that most famous of sonnets, number 18 ("Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?")? Well, it turns out it's in the section directed towards the "Fair Youth", a young man of the narrator's acquaintance. It has been variously analyzed as a fervent homosexual advance or as a bizarre kind of platonic love.

Let's set the homosexuality aside and focus on the sonnet at hand. This is a kind of parody sonnet. The sentiment of the author is sincere, but it is mocking the style of earlier sonnets. The previous master of sonnets, Petrarch, had an entire category of sonnets known as a catalog, where the author lists the various wonderful traits of his beautious love. Sonnet 18 is a catalog sonnet, too, but a positive one ("thou art MORE lovely and more temperate"). Sonnet 130 is a companion piece, showing that though his love is not beautiful, she is appreciated. The dark lady depicted in this not considered by the standards of the day to be beautiful. In fact, the object of affection is on the losing end of all the comparisons.

In the first line, the author explains that his mistress' eyes lack the "poetical" luster of all the other ladies. Coral, considered in the Elizabethan day to be a very faint pink, is FAR redder than her lips; her lips lack the color which was associated with vibrancy and energy. At a time when proper ladies stayed out of the sun and wore tons of clothing, pale white skin was considered a perk of the upper classes. Thus, the mistress, whose breasts are dun (a flat brown color) has not the brilliant complexion of other ladies.

Nobody compares ladies' hair to wires (don't try this at home, married types!), so the "black wires" is not a particularly complementary sign. Roses patterned with red and white are not to be found in her face. The next phrase has a curious softening: "in some perfumes". What, not all? The first hint that the author still finds praise amongst all her plainness. Either that, or the author has experienced some hellacious perfumes in his day.

This softening of the catalog continues through the rest of the sonnet. He loves to hear her, even though he admits that music (considered to be a refreshing art at this time) sounds better. And he's never even seen a goddess. He's surely seen other women, those considered beautiful. To me, this suggests that he doesn't see the other fancy women as anything special; certainly nothing like earthly goddesses.

The last couplet allows the author to tip his hand. Even though he thinks that she loses on all the comparisons to other, more beautiful things, in his eyes she's still as rare and highly valued as anything else.

This is a very accessible sonnet, simply because it refutes all the fancy language and simile present in many other "love poems". People today don't go around telling other people that their eyes are like the sun. It's probably sexual harassment or something. So here's Shakespeare's contribution to the natural beauty movement, currently en vogue. Even though society has different standards of beauty, the author sees only that his love is rare and beautiful.