Literature/William Shakespeare
Sonnet 130
William Shakespeare, 1609
Shakespeare’s sonnet mocking the extravagant comparisons of love poetry by describing his mistress as she really is.
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 delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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 by heaven, I think my love as rareAs any she belied with false compare.