Sonnet 130 by William Shakespeare follows the rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG. This Sonnet is basically Shakespeare poking fun at other poets of his generation who used exaggerated language to describe their lovers. In this Sonnet Shakespeare makes fun of cliché phrases such as "eyes like the sun." By taking a new spin on it. Instead of describing the beauty of his so called lover, he describes how she is not beautiful at all. "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." Shakespeare is making fun of Poets like Pertrarch who wrote poems that aggrandized their lover's beauty. He basically was fed up with love poems and decided to make a parody of them. He continues on describing her appearance, unappealing smell, and voice in unflattering terms. Until at the end he tells us that he really does love her "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare." The theme of this poem, being sarcastic and hilarious, makes the reader, and myself laugh. Shakespeare had a sense of humor that he displays in this poem by poking fun at other poets of his time. |