Imagery and Diction in Works by Shakespeare and Herrick

More often than not, lyric poetry of the past often took the role of idealizing the idea of love. There were countless poems written about the perfection of a pure love or the beauty of a woman. However, William Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” (Appendix A) and Robert Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” (Appendix B) are the antitheses to the notion that love has to be faultless. Both poems use diction and imagery to illustrate the singular theme that imperfections are not necessarily negative.
In “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing like the Sun” the speaker begins with the title line and proceeds to describe, using particular diction, just how imperfect his mistress is. He uses the opposite of the comparisons that one would usually employ to describe a loved one. Reference to the color red, which can symbolize passion, is used not as a positive depiction, but to show how the woman being spoken of is devoid of it. “Coral is far more red than...