HAKESPEARE'S ONNETS
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OMMENTARY
SONNET 130 CXXX
CXXX 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. |
With a deftness of touch that takes away any sting that might otherwise arise from implied criticism of other sonneteers, the poet satirises the tradition of comparing one's beloved to all things beautiful under the sun, and to things divine and immortal as well. It is often said that the praise of his mistress is so negative that the reader is left with the impression that she is almost unlovable. On the contrary, although the octet makes many negative comparisons, the sestet contrives to make one believe that the sound of her voice is sweeter than any music, and that she far outdistances any goddess in her merely human beauties and her mortal approachability. A typical sonnet of
the time which uses lofty comparisons
to praise a beloved idol is given below. There are many others, and the
tradition of fulsome praise in this vein stretches back to Petrarch and
his sonnets to Laura. E.g. |
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THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION
If haires be wiers,black wiers grow on her head: I haue ſeene Roſes damaskt,red and white, But no ſuch Roſes ſee I in her cheekes, And in ſome perfumes is there more delight, Then in the breath that from my Miſtres reekes. I loue to heare her ſpeake,yet well I know, That Muſicke hath a farre more pleaſing found: I graunt I neuer ſaw a goddeſſe goe, My Miſtres when ſhee walkes treads on the ground. And yet by heauen I thinke my loue as rare, As any ſhe beli'd with falſe compare. |
My Lady's hair is
threads of beaten gold; By Bartholomew Griffin. Published 1596 |
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1. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; | 1.
A traditional comparison. Shakespeare uses
it himself in the sonnets to the youth: Against that time when thou shalt strangely pass And scarcely greet me with that sun thine eye, 49 |
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2. Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
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2. Coral - In Shakespeare's day only the red variety would have been generally available. OED.1.a gives the following information: Historically, and in earlier literature and folk-lore, the name belongs to the beautiful red coral, an arborescent species, found in the Red Sea and Mediterranean, prized from times of antiquity for ornamental purposes, and often classed among precious stones. The comparison of lips with coral was commonplace. lips here could be read as singular or plural. | |
3. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; |
3. Skin and breasts were often described as whiter than snow. Breasts were also compared to pearl and ivory. The wittiness of this line is is in the use of the agrestunal word 'dun', which brings the reader down to earth with a bump. OED glosses it as: Of a dull or dingy brown colour; now esp. dull greyish brown, like the hair of the ass and mouse. It was often used in the phrase 'The dun cow', a phrase nowadays sometimes transformed into the name of a pub. Logically, since snow is white, one should accept that her breasts were dun coloured, i.e. somewhat brownish. Whether this confirms or not that his mistress was truly dark seems doubtful, for the most likely cause of the claim here to her darkness is that of being deliberately provocative. Skin is never as white as snow, or as lilies, or as enchanting as Cytherea's, therefore to countermand the extravagant claims of other poets by a simple declaration of something closer to reality might jolt everyone to a truer appraisal of love and the experience of loving.
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4. If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. | 4. If hairs be wires - hair was often compared to golden wires or threads, as in the sonnet by Bartholomew Griffin given above. A Renaissance reader would not have visualised wire as an industrial object. Its main use at the time would have been in jewellery and lavish embroidery. The shock here is not in the wires themselves (a sign of beauty) but in the fact that they are black. | |
5. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, |
5. White, red and damasked are the first three varieties of rose described in Gerard's Herbal, and it appears that there were only these three colours. (See the commentary to Sonnet 109.) The damask rose was pinkish coloured. This is Gerard's description: 3. The common Damaske Rose in stature, prickely branches, and in other respects is like the white Rose; the especiall difference consists in the colour and smell of the flours: for these are of a pale red colour, of a more pleasant smel, and fitter for meat and medicine. | |
6. But no such roses see I in her cheeks; | 6. SB, p.453, gives an illustration of a beauty literally portrayed according to the extravagant conceits of the time. Her cheeks have roses growing in them. See also the illustration above of summer, made up of fruits and vegetables. | |
7. And in some perfumes is there more delight |
7. In the
traditional world of sonneteering
the beloved's breath smelled sweeter than all perfumes. It was part of
the
courtly tradition of love to declare (and believe) that the goddess
whom
one adored had virtually no human qualities. All her qualities were
divine.
Compare, for example, the following from Cymbeline, one of
Shakespeare's
later plays (c. 1609-10), where Iachimo describes Imogen, with whom
however
he is not in love, although he had hoped to seduce her. (Cytherea = Venus). Note the similes which equate skin with lilies, lips with rubies, breath with all perfumes, eyes with the lights of heaven, and the whole apparition with Venus. |
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8. Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
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8. that from my mistress reeks - the use of 'reeks' was probably not quite as harsh and damaging to the concept of beauty as it seems to a modern ear. The word was not as suggestive of foetid exhalations as it is now. However, even from an early date, it tended to be associated with steamy, sweaty and unsavoury smells. The original meaning seems to have been 'to emit smoke', a meaning which is still retained in the Scottish expression 'Long may your lang reek'. There seems to be little doubt that Shakespeare could have used a gentler and more flattering word if he wished to imply that his mistress was a paragon of earthly delights. The expression is on a par with the earlier descriptions of dun breasts and hair made of black wire. | |
9. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know | 9. See note below. | |
10. That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
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10. Curiously, these two lines (9-10) almost express the opposite of their exact meaning. One is tempted to read 'I love to hear her speak, for the sound is far more pleasing than music to my ear'. In fact that is almost a stronger meaning than the superficial and more obvious one, because the declaration that he loves to hear her surmounts the obstacle of his prior knowledge that music might be better. However much better it is he still would much prefer to listen to her voice, and his knowledge of the superiority of music is irrelevant. The mere introduction of the term music enlightens the reader's ear to the quality of experience the poet derives from listening to his beloved. Technically the effect is perhaps achieved by the directness of the statement 'I love to hear her speak', which works in the same way as the bold and breathtaking declarations made earlier to the youth - for I love you so, dear my love you know, etc. The whole effect is then consolidated by the pleasing sound of music which follows. | |
11. I grant I never saw a goddess go, |
11. I
admit that I never saw a goddess walking
by. to go = to walk, as the next line confirms. In
the ancient world
encounters with gods and goddesses were often reported, and probably
quite
widely believed. Literature abounds with incidents of intervention in
human
affairs by various deities. Odysseus for example is often surprised
when
Athena disguises herself as a maiden and only reveals herself to him as
she leaves. Commentators usually cite the example of Aeneas' encounter
with
Venus in Virgil's Aeneid - vera incessu patuit dea
(by her gait she
was revealed as a true goddess) Aen.I.405.
Shakespeare had himself
described Venus in his poem Venus and Adonis. There may be a joking reference to sexual intercourse, as in: O let him marry a woman that cannot go, sweet Isis, I beseech thee! AC.I.2.59. The irreverence would be appropriate in a poem which debunks classical references and metaphors, as for example that shown above by Griffin, with its reliance on Aurora, the Graces and Thetis, all goddesses of classical antiquity. |
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12. My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: | 12. 'My beloved is human, a goddess with earthly feet'. The poet is asserting that divine comparisons are not relevant, for his beloved is beautiful without being a goddess. | |
13. And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, |
13. rare = precious, superb, of fine and unusual quality. The word has more of the sense of something wonderful and rich than in its modern uses. Shakespeare uses it far more frequently in the later plays. To the famous description of Cleopatra floating on her barge, which is put in the mouth of Domitius, Agrippa exclaims 'O rare for Antony!' ..............................For
her own person,
Despite not being a goddess his beloved may be as rare to him as if she were Cleopatra. |
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14. As any she belied with false compare.
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14. As
any she belied = as any woman
who is belied. Compare: Lady, you are the cruellest she alive. TN.I.5.225, and the fair, the chaste, the unexpressive she. AYL.III.2.10. belied = (who is) falsely portrayed. OED.2 defines belie as 'to tell lies about, to calumniate with false statements', and cites the following: 1581 Wherein you doe unhonestlye slaunder him and belye him, without cause. false compare = false and deceptive comparisons, insincerities. compare could also hint at 'compeer', one who is comparable, on an equal footing. |
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First line index | Title page and Thorpe's Dedication | Some Introductory Notes to the Sonnets | Sonnets as plain text 1-154 | Text facsimiles | Other related texts of the period |
Picture
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Thomas Wyatt Poems | Other Authors | General notes for background details, general policies etc. | Map of the site | Valentine Poems |
London Bridge as it was in Shakespeare's day, circa 1600. | Views of London as it was in 1616. | Views of Cheapside London, from a print of 1639. | The Carrier's Cosmography. A guide to all the Carriers in London. As given by John Taylor in 1637. | Oxquarry Books Ltd | |
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