Review of Shakespeare’s Sonnet Poem
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The sonnet 130 poem by Shakespeare describes the beauty of a mistress. However, in the poem beauty of mistress was described against the conventions of beauty. The writer described her eyes as dull, which cannot be compared with the brightness of the sun. Her breath has a bad oduor, her sound is not attractive and her cheeks are not colorful. These shows the conventions of beauty turned upside down.
The poet challenges the beauty of women as described by other poets as bright eyes, colorful cheeks and lips, a good sound and a fresh breath. In my opinion, the theme of the poem is women’s ugliness supported by the conventions of beauty of uncolored cheeks, bad oduor, and unattractive sound among other negative conventions of beauty described by the poet. The tone in the poem is harsh since the poet turned the conventions of beauty upside down.
The first two lines of the sonnet poem use similes. The poet compares the eyes of a beautiful mistress to the brightness of the sun and the lips color compared to the redness of the coral, but in this poem, these conventions were turned upside down. The first couplet affects the other six pairs by setting a pace that the mistress to be described is not beautiful and that the comparisons in the poem are untrue. For example in line seven, perfumes are described as delightful and the same comparison of the mistress is turned upside down in line eight.
At the end of the sonnet, in line fourteen, the poet admits the false comparisons used in the entire poem. This brought out the comparison between the beautiful and ugly woman See Shakespeare (1999-2010).