"My Mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red then her lips' red;"
The major theme of this poem is loving someones imperfections. Shakespeare is clearly making a mockery of the traditional Italian love sonnets, by using similar comparison's that you would see in that form of poetry, but not using them in his lovers favor. In lines 1-12 he points out the many flaws of his mistress, commenting on her breath that "reeks", and the unpleasant sound of her voice. If you were only to read those first 12 lines you would think that this man is absolutely disgusted with his lover, but the turn happens in the last two lines of the sonnet.
"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare."
The last couplet truly backs up the theme of this poem. The fact that the speaker can accept the imperfections of his mistress and love her despite them, is what truly makes their love so rare. Many typical love poems claim that the love they share is rare, but if it is so rare why are so many females cheeks red as a roses? This comparison along with many of the similarities made between women, and beautiful things have become a cliche. Which is the message that Shakespeare was trying to send by writing this poem. A love, or the beauty of a woman, is not rare if so many woman are said to have "eyes like the sun".
Shakespeare follows the typical English sonnet form with 3 Quatrains and a couplet and the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Although he mocks the Italian sonnet's, he does not follow the same form which allows the readers to understand the comedy of the poem.
Truly finding rare love is all about accepting ones imperfections. If you constantly fill your lovers mind with ridiculous overused compliments, then the rareness of your love will fade, and in my opinion that is not true love. This poem signifies how unnecessary it is to write poems about your mistress that probably are untrue. True, rare, and lasting love can be simply stated by the phrase "I Love you, and your imperfections" which is the message that Shakespeare is sending through this poem.
Anna - you repeat yourself often in this explication as if looking for something to say. You get the turn and the idea of the poem, but you need to look closer at the form: 3 quatrains and a couplet. What does each quatrain do? Walk through it step by step. This seems rushed. Also, is he making fun of Italian love sonnets? Where did you get this info? He is making fun of the idea of the BLAZON (we talked about this in class). You should use the actual word and define what it means.
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