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• William Shakespeare: 'Sonnet 130'
• 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
• Her hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head
• I have seen roses demanded, red and white
• But no such roses see I in her cheeks
• In some perfumes is there more delight
• Than her breath that from my mistress reeks
• I love to hear her speak, yet I know
• That music 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 rare
• As any she belied with false compare
• Sonnet 130


  
  
• A poem by William Shakespeare that rejects the traditional poetic convention of idealizing one's lover.
• First Quatrain


  
  
• "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"
• Second Quatrain


  
  
• "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 delight" / "Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks"
• Third Quatrain


  
  
• "I love to hear her speak, yet well I know" / "That music hath a far more pleasing sound" / "I grant I never saw a goddess go" / "My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground"
• Couplet

  
  
• "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare" / "As any she belied with false compare"
• Structure

  
  
• Three quatrains and a couplet, following the typical structure of a Shakespearean sonnet. The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
• Themes

  
  
• Sonnet 130 is a rejection of the traditional poetic convention of idealizing one's lover. Shakespeare instead presents a more realistic and down-to-earth portrayal of his mistress.