Sonnet 130 Figurative Language

Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” and Pablo Neruda’s “My ugly love” are popularly known to describe beauty in a way hardly anyone would write: through the truth. It’s a common fact that modern lovers and poets speak or write of their beloved with what they and the audience would like to hear, with kind and breathtaking words and verses. Yet, Shakespeare and Neruda, honest men as they both were, chose to write about what love truly is, it matters most what’s on the inside rather than the outside. The theme of true beauty and love are found through Shakespeare and Neruda’s uses of imagery, structure, and tone.

Poems use lots of different ways to express personal relationships. The authors of these poems can use language, tone, structure and many other ways to convey personal relationships. The poem Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy uses many of these aspects. The main idea of this poem is to compare an onion to the love a woman has for her lover. The poem Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare also uses language, tone, structure and imagery. This poem however uses them in a different way. This poem is about how a man loves his wife/lover in his own special way. These two poems use language, tone, structure, rhyme/rhythm and imagery to express a personal relationship.

“Sonnet 130”. This poem first starts off with a man or possibly a woman, talking about their mistress in a negative way. Starting off with saying “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” (Shakespeare 1.) This man or woman than starts talking more about how his mistress’s lips,

The amount of beauty that a woman possesses is different, which makes each woman unique in her own way. Although, a woman should not be judged by what she looks like on the outside, society today makes it seem that if a woman does not have perfect hair or a perfect body, they are not beautiful. In William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130, he gives details of the speaker’s descriptive comparison of nature’s beauties to his mistress’ beauty. Shakespeare uses a judgmental tone with misrepresentative word choice to suggest that even though his mistress doesn’t live up to society’s standards for women, her beauty is unique in his eyes.

The poem itself has a lot of metaphors hidden within which shows Shakespeare's true brilliance. The structure of the poem compares the beautiful lover (perhaps his wife) to the warm and bright summer’s day. Each time I re-read it, I will always find new metaphors that will make me want to read it again and again. Even though it is a typical sonnet, I didn't choose it for the obvious reasons. This poem is well-known, but it is only well known because of the mastery and brilliance of its meaning. I chose this poem because of how beautiful it is and how William seemed to hit the perfect Summer’s Day within the image of his lover.

In “Sonnet 93” by William Shakespeare, the speaker has an honest love for his significant other. He seems a little confused and has uncertainty coming from his partner and starts to question their relationship. The speaker is focused on how things look on the outside isn’t always the same as on the inside.  Some people may seem sweet and innocent on the outside, but are evil and cruel on the inside.  Shakespeare uses diction, allusion, imagery, and form and structure in his sonnet to illustrate how people aren’t the same on the outside as on the inside.

One can infer that the preferable color in a woman’s cheeks are red and white. This is because of the use of the word “Dmask’d” (130.5) Shakespeare’s use of “dmask’d” means a pattern of red and white on a rose meaning an exemplary flower for him. Also, it represents a beautiful color of cheeks. “But no such roses see I in her cheeks;” (130.6) is a metaphorical statement because “roses in cheeks” is physically impossible but very effortless to visualize because it means the color of one's cheeks(Metaphorically). Subsequent to this, Shakespeare seems to impose self conflict in himself which is exhibited by ”I love to hear her speak, yet well I know, That music hath a far more pleasing sound;” (130.9-10)

The reason why Sonnet 130 is a part of the literary cannon is because the Sonnets introduce a very strict system needed to follow to even be considered a sonnet. All of Williams Shakespeare’s pieces are incredible but the Sonnets are special. All the Sonnets have to follow a strict set of rules this includes being fourteen line long and follow an ABABCDCDEFEFGG rhyme system. The creation of one of these Sonnets would be a challenge however Shakespeare developed 154 of them and so there are 2156 lines. This just goes to show the commitment and creativity of William Shakespeare. Each Sonnet also has a “Problem or Issue” for the first eight stanzas then “Opinion on the Problem” for stanza nine to twelve and finally a “Resolution” for the last two stanzas. The “Problem or Issue” is that this “Mistress” is not the ideal woman. The “Opinion on the Problem” is the He (The man describing the mistress does not know the ideal woman. Lastly, the “Resolution” can be seen to be that “He” loves besides of all these flaws or he is saying “she will do”. This is why Sonnet 130 is part of literary canon because of the meaning and the strict structure that has to be followed making it very hard to create this Sonnet.

William Shakespeare, an English playwright and poet, is perhaps the most famous writer in the English language. One of his poems, Sonnet 130, is a parody of typical Petrarchan love poetry in which Petrarch often wrote about an idealized woman he loved and worshipped. In Shakespeare’s sonnet, he makes fun of the idea that a woman can be so perfect and so amazing by describing his mistress as a completely average person. This makes the Petrarchan love poems seem silly and false because, as Shakespeare seems to suggest, no one is that perfect and amazing, including Shakespeare’s “mistress”. The last lines of the poem make clear that Shakespeare did not approve of these high, unreasonable standards of the time. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 begins with Shakespeare intentionally comparing his mistress to the unreasonable, exaggerated

When thinking of a love poem, one thinks of a cliché description of the speaker’s lover or maybe is an imaginative portrayal of love in a general sense. Love poems always have an exaggerating characteristic when describing something or someone. “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare, is a parody of love poetry; love is not always like it is illustrated in others contemporaries poems.

Sonnet 116 entirely talks about what love is and what it isn't. The first quatrain talks about how love is never changing and if it is it is not true love. Then in the second part he states that love survives all of the hardships that is brought to it. It helps bring people to peace. The third quatrain discusses what love is not. Love does not fade because of time spent together or ones looks. It does not alter its self even at times of great danger. The final couplet finally states that if all that the author says above is not true then he has never loved before.

“Sonnet 18” and Sonnet “130,” were some of William Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets that he ever wrote. Both sonnets are very similar with the theme of love and beauty; however they contrast each other in their purpose, style, and whom William Shakespeare is writing the sonnet to. The sonnets are both written in two different styles of writing. “Sonnet 18” was written in a more traditional format, which paints the woman in a divine spotlight. “Sonnet 130” however contrasts “Sonnet 18” by instead of describing their subject as being beautiful they rather describing them as with imperfections and how they love that subject. Shakespeare uses a complimentary tone when he wrote “Sonnet 18” and uses a more ironic and satirical tone in his “Sonnet 130.” With the help of a complex metaphor, the tone he uses in each sonnet, and imagery, Shakespeare gives two very different takes on love and beauty.

“Sonnet 130” has a tone of truthfulness. Throughout the sonnet Shakespeare says somewhat mean but truthful facts about the appearance of his mistress. Even though the statements seem cruel and mean he is speaking the truth and these flaws don’t bother him. The sonnet’s mood is loving. Shakespeare doesn’t have the slightest problem with not having the “prettiest” mistress which is proven by how he talks about her saying things like “black wires grow on her head” (l. 4). He prefers to have a woman with a more beautiful inside rather than outside. Shakespeare’s view on love creates the tone and mood for the sonnet but is also a great

Love is a central theme in William Shakespeare's sonnets, yet the means by which love is expressed and the form in which it takes differs across various sonnets. In sonnet 116, Shakespeare lavishes the reader with beautiful imagery of love in its most idyllic form. On the other hand, in sonnet 130, he adopts a more realistic approach to love as it is experienced by everyday people. In both cases, the poet is able to artfully convey the theme of love in its various forms such that the reader is able to easily recognize and identify with it.

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” (Line 1). “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Line 1). These are both two of the famous lines from William Shakespeare’s sonnet 18 and 130. William Shakespeare was an intelligent English playwright, poet, and dramatist during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. He is known as one of the greatest playwrights of all time. Sonnet 18 and 130 are two of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. Sonnet 18 is a love poem about how he compares the woman’s love to a summer’s day. Sonnet 130 has a different approach. It is still a comparison, but it seems to be a more spiteful one. These sonnets are both share similar subjects, imagery, theme, and rhyme scheme; however they are more so different in forms and purpose.