Sonnet 130 Summary & Analysis

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"Sonnet 130" was written by the English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Though most likely written in the 1590s, the poem wasn't published until 1609. Like many other sonnets from the same period, Shakespeare's poem wrestles with beauty, love, and desire. He tries to find a more authentic, realistic way to talk about these things in the sonnet, and gleefully dismisses the highly artificial poems of praise his peers were writing. Shakespeare's poem also departs from his contemporaries in terms of formal structure — it is a new kind of sonnet—the "Shakespearean" sonnet.

The Full Text of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

1 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

2 Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

3 If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

4 If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

6 But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

7 And in some perfumes is there more delight

8 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

9 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

11 I grant I never saw a goddess go;

12 My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

13 And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

14 As any she belied with false compare.

The Full Text of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

1 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

2 Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

3 If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

4 If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

6 But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

7 And in some perfumes is there more delight

8 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

9 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

11 I grant I never saw a goddess go;

12 My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

13 And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

14 As any she belied with false compare.

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Summary

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Themes

Beauty and Love

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Love, Personality, and the Superficial

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

Line 1

Lines 2-4

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.

Lines 5-8

I have seen roses damasked, 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.

Lines 9-12

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.

Lines 13-14

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Symbols

The Sun

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Whiteness

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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

Simile

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Metaphor

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Parallelism

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End-Stopped Line

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Enjambment

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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Vocabulary

• Mistress
• Coral
• Dun
• Wires
• Damasked
• Reeks
• Goddess
• Belied
• Compare

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

Form

Meter

Rhyme Scheme

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Speaker

“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”

More “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Resources

External Resources

• Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady" — Read the full text of Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady," a rewriting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.
• "Sonnet 130" Glossary — A glossary and commentary on Sonnet 130 from Buckingham University.
• 1609 Quarto Printing of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 — An image of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 as it appeared in its first printing, in 1609.
• Reading of "Sonnet 130" — Ian Midlane reads "Sonnet 130" for the BBC, introduced by some smooth jazz.
• Blazon Lady — See an image of Charles Berger's blazon lady and read Thomas Campion's contemporaneous blazon.
• Sidney's Astrophil and Stella #9 — Read the full text of Sidney's earlier blazon, Astrophil and Stella #9.

LitCharts on Other Poems by William Shakespeare

• Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds
• Sonnet 129: Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame
• Sonnet 12: When I do count the clock that tells the time
• Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth
• Sonnet 141: In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes
• Sonnet 147: My love is as a fever, longing still
• Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
• Sonnet 19: Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws
• Sonnet 20: A woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted
• Sonnet 27: "Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed"
• Sonnet 29: When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes
• Sonnet 30: When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
• Sonnet 33: Full many a glorious morning have I seen
• Sonnet 45: The other two, slight air and purging fire
• Sonnet 55: Not marble nor the gilded monuments
• Sonnet 60: Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore
• Sonnet 65 ("Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea")
• Sonnet 71: No longer mourn for me when I am dead
• Sonnet 73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold
• Sonnet 94: "They that have power to hurt"

1 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

2 Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

3 If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

4 If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

5 I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

6 But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

7 And in some perfumes is there more delight

8 Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

9 I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

10 That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

11 I grant I never saw a goddess go;

12 My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

13 And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

14 As any she belied with false compare.

Lines 3-4

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