Sonnet 130 has to be one of my favorite of Shakespeare’s poetry. As Doug has demonstrated the poets of the time had a very idealistic and romantic writing style when it came to love. Much like the other sonnets we have read they go on about how amazing a woman is. But Shakespeare enjoys irony. In this sonnet he is making fun of all the other poets of his time. The typical romantic sonnet of the time praised a woman’s features to an unrealistic degree. They woman were said to have perfect skin when it was pockmarked and covered in makeup. In Sonnet 130 Shakespeare contradicts these romantic inaccuracies, “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun” (1). He is bringing poetry back to the real world. Women’s eyes don’t shine that brightly. To Shakespeare, love is adoring a really woman for who she is, not embellishing all of her beauty to inaccuracy. In fact I find this poem more romantic because he loves her regardless of her realistic beauty. Which kind of poetry do you prefer? Do you think I’m correct in my understanding or do you think this is a joke on other poets by Shakespeare?
Kindle,
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think Shakespeare is making fun of the whole sonnet/Petrarchan tradition in which women were idealized to an absurd degree.