My Mistress

’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun Essay, Research Paper

In William Shakespeare’s sonnet “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun” the speaker uses a twisted version of the blazon technique, which lists and describes every body part of the mistress. The speaker expresses the idea that his mistress is not physically beautiful, and she has flaws, but he loves her anyway. I believe that the speaker expresses this idea in order to say that beauty is only skin deep, and there is more to a person than meets the eye. The beginning of the poem is misleading. It starts out as if the speaker is talking negatively about his mistress. “Her eyes are nothing like the sun” (1). The speaker is saying that he does not see her eyes to be bright and clear like the sun. “Coral is far more red than her lips red” (2). The speaker is saying that her lips are pale and that the color of her lips is not as vibrant as coral. “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun” (3). During this time period the desired skin color was pale, and the speaker says that his mistress’ breasts were a brownish-gray. “If hairs be wires, black wires grown on her head” (4). The speaker is saying that her hair is not soft, silky and smooth. The speaker goes to the extreme of saying her breath “reeks.” When

you hear the word “reeks” you imagine an awful smell and using this to describe her breath creates an image of not wanting to come face to face with her. But as you continue to read, the speaker says that she is a real person and is obtainable, unlike a mystical form such as an angel or goddess. “I grant I never saw a goddess go, / My mistress when she walks treads on the ground” (11-12). The speaker says that he has never seen a goddess, and that his mistress is a real person who walks on the ground instead of floating on air like an angel.Most love poems use descriptions that are unrealistic describing their lovers as flawless, something that is not real. Saying things that make the lover seem like a goddess. “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as fair / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). The speaker says he is blessed to have this love and does not have to make false illusions of his mistress. The speaker in “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun” says his true thoughts about his mistress. This allows you to see that she is a real person. “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun” is an unusual poem. The speaker does not describe his mistress as having qualities of beautiful things. Instead he is drawn to her inner beauty instead of her physical beauty.