My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun by William Shakespeare (Essay Sample)

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My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun by William Shakespeare
Introduction of the poem
"My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun" is the 130th sonnet in Shakespeare’s collection. In the sonnet, the poet talks about the beauty of his mistress. He makes a lot of comparison between her and other natural and beautiful elements on earth. The most conspicuous description is captured in the title where he compares the mistress to the sun (Shakespeare 1). He asserts that the mistress’ eyes are not comparable to the sun. The reality of the statement is that the eyes might be beautiful but the sun is more beautiful. He proceeds to compare the mistress’ other parts with nature. He states that her cheeks lack roses and the redness of her lips differs from the redness of corals (Zsoldos 1). Additionally, he states that other perfumes are better than her perfume, her breath stinks, music is better than her voice, and her walking style is not pleasing at all. The sonnet is full of negative descriptions though the end is positive. At the end of the sonnet, Shakespeare states that he loves his mistress so much that he can’t let her go. She might be imperfect but she is his true love.
Information about the poet
.William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon on 23rd April, 1564. He was a very intelligent kid as observed from her initial childhood years. He attended King Edward IV Grammar School where he developed comprehension in Latin and Greek languages. He married his wife, Hathaway when he was only 18 years old. History states that the woman was a little bit older than Shakespeare. She was approximately eight years older than Shakespeare but they were love-bound.
Shakespeare’s acting talent fully exploded in 1594 when he joined a group known as Lord Chamberlain’s Company. He performed many roles as one of the group’s actors. His prominence enabled him to contribute to the construction of a playhouse. He continued with his acting career and poem writing profession for a very long period of time. Additionally, he wrote many sonnets to a beloved friend and about a "dark lady" with whom he fell in love. His love life might have contributed greatly to the motivation he possesses and the passion of writing love-based sonnets. It is the passion he had for comedies, drama, and love that motivated him to write "My Mistress' Eyes are nothing like the Sun.”
Analysis of the Sonnet
There are various elements of poetry that poets consider in writing their poems. These poetry elements impact on the appearance, meaning, and readability score of a poem. The most commonly used elements in poetry include persona, tone, rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, assonance, consonance, stanza, poetic syntax, metaphor, simile, personification, and symbolism. Most poems contain at least one of these elements. However, some poets use all of them in one piece of poem.
Persona: the persona in this poem is the mistress whose parts are being compared to other things such as the sun, music, roses, and coral. She is the woman Shakespeare describes as imperfect but can’t deny that he loves her so that much.
Tone: the tone of the poem has contentment and realism in it. Shakespeare finds numerous imperfections in his mistress but does not leave her. This shows that people should concentrate on true love and not the obvious superficial beauty.
Rhyme: some of the rhyming words in the poem include: sun and dun; red and head; white and delight; cheeks and reeks; know and go; sound and ground; compare and rare. The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is in the form a, b, a, b, c, d, c, d, e, f, e, f, g, g. The rhyme scheme of this sonnet is irregular apart from the last two lines i.e. rare and compare.
Rhythm: most of the lines in the poem are written in iambic pentameter. However, there is a difference in the stress displayed by the poet in the sonnet. For instance, the second last line contains 8 syllables only and the last line has 10 syllables. This is an indication of change in rhythm which is also proportional to the tone of the poet at the end of the poem.
Alliteration: alliteration is evident in various lines of the poem. Some of the alliterating words include: hairs and head; roses and red; music and more; grant and goddess. The alliteration enhances the reader’s interest while reading it. It also makes it memorable and beautiful.
Assonance: assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in close words in a poem. There are numerous elements of assonance in the poem. Some of the vowel sounds in the poem that indicate assonance include nothing and sun, than and her, wires and black, some and perfumes, and grant and never.
Consonance: this is similarity in sound patterns at the end of words. Consonance is evident in the poem. Some examples of consonance in the poem include sound and ground, and reeks and cheeks. Consonance resembles rhyme in such a way. However, rhyme encompasses all sounds while consonance considers vowels only.
Stanza: the poem has only one stanza comprised of 14 lines. The average number of syllables for the 14 lines is 10. This makes the poem to qualify as a tenet. The poem has a short stanza and hence making it easier to read and memorize. Additionally, poems with short stanzas or few stanzas are interesting to the reader.
Poetic syntax: Shakespeare is fond of using poetic syntax in his poems and plays. He breaks syntax of the grammar he uses in his works to come up with vocabulary that seems ambiguous to the reader. Some examples to illustrate the evidence of poetic syntax include "snow be white" instead of "snow is white." He also states that "but no such roses see I in her cheeks" instead of "but I don’t see such roses in her cheeks.”
Metaphor: Shakespeare ubiquitously uses metaphor in the poem to directly link two things while describing his mistress. A visible metaphor in the poem is "breasts are dun.”
Simile: similes are used in literature to compare two things. Shakespeare intensively uses similes to compare his mistress’ features to the earthly objects. In fact, there is a simile in the title of the poem i.e. "…..eyes are nothing like the sun." In this simile, Shakespeare is equating his mistress’ eyes to the sun. Another simile in the poem is "my love as rare." This statement means that the love ...