"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.
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The Full Text of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”
1My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
2Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
3If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
4If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
5I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
6But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
7And in some perfumes is there more delight
8Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
9I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
10That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
11I grant I never saw a goddess go;
12My 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”
1My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
2Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
3If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
4If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
5I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
6But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
7And in some perfumes is there more delight
8Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
9I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
10That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
11I grant I never saw a goddess go;
12My 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.
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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Summary
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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Themes
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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”
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Line 1
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
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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
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Symbols
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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
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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
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Mistress
- Coral
- Dun
- Wires
- Damasked
- Reeks
- Goddess
- Belied
- Compare
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- See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Speaker
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“Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”
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More “Sonnet 130: My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” Resources
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External Resources
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Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady" — Read the full text of Harryette Mullen's "Dim Lady," a rewriting of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.
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"Sonnet 130" Glossary — A glossary and commentary on Sonnet 130 from Buckingham University.
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1609 Quarto Printing of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 — An image of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 as it appeared in its first printing, in 1609.
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Reading of "Sonnet 130" — Ian Midlane reads "Sonnet 130" for the BBC, introduced by some smooth jazz.
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Blazon Lady — See an image of Charles Berger's blazon lady and read Thomas Campion's contemporaneous blazon.
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Sidney's Astrophil and Stella #9 — Read the full text of Sidney's earlier blazon, Astrophil and Stella #9.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by William Shakespeare
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