Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
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.
I have seen roses damask'd, 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.
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:
And yet, I think my love as rare
As any she belied in false compare

Shakespeare’s sonnet 130 belongs to the group of sonnets addressed to the Dark Lady.
It is special in a way, as it abandons the conventions of Petrarchan sonnet, very popular in Renaissance England and often used by Shakespeare himself.
In the Petrarchan sonnet it was usual to compare women’s features to nature and to liken the mistres...