Sonnet 130
by William Shakespeare · 1609 · 1 min read · 14 lines
Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare is a poem about loving a woman without pretending she matches impossible ideals of beauty. The speaker begins by rejecting flattering comparisons: her eyes do not resemble the sun, her lips are less red than coral, and her hair looks like black wires. He then turns to her cheeks and breath, finding neither the colors of roses nor the sweetness of perfume. Although he loves hearing her speak, he admits that music sounds better. She also walks on the ground rather than moving like a goddess. The final two lines change the force of these plain descriptions: he values his beloved as highly as any woman praised through false comparisons. His affection does not depend on exaggeration.
What it means, line by line
Lines 1 to 4: The speaker describes his beloved by refusing grand comparisons. Her eyes are not sunlike, coral is redder than her lips, and her skin is darker than snow. Comparing her black hair to wires gives the description a blunt, physical quality rather than making her seem impossibly beautiful.
Lines 5 to 8: The speaker moves from sight to smell. He sees no mixture of red and white roses in her cheeks, and he finds some perfumes more pleasant than her breath. These details continue his refusal to turn an ordinary human body into a collection of perfect natural beauties.
Lines 9 to 12: The speaker now directly says that he loves hearing her speak, even though music sounds better. He also admits he has never seen a goddess walk. His beloved walks on the earth, a plain fact that keeps her human rather than presenting her as a divine figure.
Lines 13 to 14: The ending shifts from listing what the beloved lacks to declaring her value. The speaker considers his love as precious as any woman misrepresented by exaggerated praise. This closing claim makes the earlier bluntness part of an argument for affection grounded in truth rather than flattering invention.
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Three questions to think about
- How does the final declaration of love change your understanding of the earlier descriptions?
- What effects do the comparisons with coral, wires, roses, and perfume create?
- How does the speaker distinguish loving someone’s voice from judging its sound?
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