The Beauty of Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

            Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 mostly follows the general structure of sonnets.  It has 14 lines, 3 quatrains and 1 couplet.  The rhyme scheme is ababcdcdefefgg with 10 syllables per line in iambic pentameter.  The first part of the sonnet introduces the idea that Shakespeare’s lover is not typically beautiful.  The third part ends with his declaration of his love for her.  But instead of the second part introducing a turn or change, Shakespeare uses 12 lines to describe her flaws.  The first 4 lines each describe 1 flaw then the next 8 lines use 2 lines to describe each flaw.   The change as well as the conclusion both come in the final couplet.  So even Shakespeare doesn’t follow the exact sonnet structure in Sonnet 130.

            A line by line paraphrase of Sonnet 130 is:

My love’s eyes are not like the sun

Coral is redder than her lips

If snow is white, her breasts are dull

If hair is wire, hers is black wire

I have seen red and white roses

Her cheeks are not rosy

In perfume there is more delight

Than in my lover’s breath

I love her voice, but

Music is more pleasing

I’ve never seen a goddess

But my love walks on ground

And yet, I think my love is as special

As any other woman represented by these fake comparisons.

            Taken together, much of the sonnet describes Shakespeare’s lover as imperfect.  Her eyes don’t shine.  Her lips are not red.  Her breasts not white.  Her hair is like black wires.  Her cheeks are not rosy, her breath not sweet smelling, her voice not pleasing.  She is no goddess.  But although she’s no classic beauty, he thinks she’s more beautiful than the fake and clichéd ideas of beauty.  Shakespeare is challenging the traditional view of beauty.  He’s also criticizing caring just about the outside instead of what’s inside a person.  Shakespeare’s view of women and beauty is ahead of his time.  Instead of comparing women to perfection in nature his view of beauty is how he feels about women.  In Sonnet 130, Shakespeare didn’t see women as objects or symbols.  He instead appreciates women for who they are with all their imperfections. 

Shakespeare’s message still applies today.  Our society is so concerned with how people look and dress and obsessed with unnatural comparisons to models and movie stars.  Shakespeare realized that people aren’t perfect and are actually special because they are individuals.   I agree with Shakespeare’ s sentiment that we should love people for who they really are instead of what everyone thinks they should be.  Sometimes it’s hard to be different than what’s accepted but it’s important to be real and loved for who you are.  Shakespeare realized all of this and that’s another reason to appreciate him and his work.

A Sonnet for Princess

She prowls around the still kingdom at night

Her ears are up, her pounce on the ready

She keeps the world within her watchful sight

Her paws pad soft and slow and ever steady   

Head high, streamlined, white whiskers lead the way

Sharp teeth, strong claws, attack or else defend

Way back she roamed the wild, stalking her prey

House-bound she still sizes up a foe or friend

So when it comes time for going to bed

She purrs, meows, scratches at my shut door

When I give in she goes right to my head

Before I’m back she’s off to a loud snore

Of course, you know, I’m so quick to forgive

Sleeping without her now, I could not live.

Poems so far...

A Poem

It starts all jumbled up

Pieces upside down

or facing the wrong way

You’re not sure where to start

It doesn’t look like there’s enough pieces

Are some missing?

All the pieces have to fit together

for it to be done

Sometimes it looks like you found the right piece

But it doesn’t fit

You can turn it around and around

or try it in a different spot

or give it up

come back to it later

You have to stop,

Step back

Look at the whole thing

even with the missing pieces

Keep checking the picture on the box

Imagine what would fit there

Try to see it

Search for it

When you find it

See if it fits

Start with the border

Once you get that, everything else comes together

When you get enough of the pieces

The rest come easier

When it’s all done

A complete creation

Separate pieces, now one

It makes sense

Seems so easy

How could you not have seen it?

Now that it’s done

You’ll always see it

A Memory Forgotten

Does it evaporate

Like a puddle after a sun shower

Or chip away

Like a week-old manicure

Or does it wear away

Like a piece of a Coke bottle tossed by the ocean

Maybe it’s gone

Never to be seen, heard, felt, smelled or tasted

Again

Or is it always there

Always lingering

Stuck

Like a song in your head

A Peasant Feast

A wedding in a barn

hot food on a humble platter

wine poured from jugs

feasting at a communal table

noisy conversation

musicians standing

a small boy licking his fingers

a grinning bride

A peasant wedding

so different than a gentleman’s

so real and undisguised

no ornate costumes

no formal dances

no silver goblets

no polite conversation or excessive manners

instead a simple, genuine, joyous celebration

A peasant wedding feast

Pieter Bruegel: “Peasant Wedding Feast”

(despite many tries, could not upload painting -- have hard copy)

Pieter Bruegel was a great Flemish painter of the 16^th century (Venezia  3).  Very little is known about his life except that he traveled to Italy to study their great artists (Venezia 8) and lived and worked in Antwerp, Belgium (Venezia 3).  His first paintings were landscapes combining scenery from Belgium and the mountains and valleys he saw when visiting Italy (Venezia 12). He was greatly influenced by the artist Hieronymus Bosch who painted strange scenes filled with weird creatures (Venezia 11).  Later he became interested in painting people, adding more people to his works.  His paintings reflected his interest in the poor people who lived in the countryside - peasants- (Venezia 14) although he was not one himself.  He painted peasants working, playing and feasting (Venezia 16).  It is rumored that Bruegel would go in disguise to peasant celebrations (Venezia 17).  His paintings are thought to contain secret messages, symbols and images (Venezia 18). 

Bruegel’s painting “Peasant Wedding Feast” shows a marriage celebration taking place in a barn.  The painting is filled with many people and various things happening.  Food is being served.  Wine is being poured.  Musicians are playing.  People are eating and drinking and talking.  A crowd of people are trying to get in.  A young boy is sitting on the ground licking his fingers.  The bride sits alone in front of a blue cloth with a calm look.   The painting is a detailed and realistic picture of a 16^th century peasant celebration.

“Peasant Wedding Feast” shows the reality and joy of peasant life in the 16^th century.  Bruegel himself was not a peasant but perhaps he found the simple, country life to be more interesting and real than his own. Maybe that is why he would sneak into and paint their lives.  Bruegel’s interest in peasants may show not only his appreciation for their simple and merry lives but also his dislike for the fake and mannered life of the rich in Europe at the time.

Peasant Life

A wedding in a barn

hot food on a humble platter

wine poured from jugs

feasting at a communal table

noisy conversation

musicians standing

a small boy licking his fingers

a grinning bride

A peasant wedding

so different than a gentleman’s

so real and undisguised

no ornate costumes

no formal dances

no silver goblets

no polite conversation or excessive manners

instead a simple, genuine, joyous celebration

A peasant wedding feast

Works Cited

Hill, Suzanne. “Meaning in Peasant Wedding Feast.”

Suite 101.com.

31 Jan. 2012.  

            http://suzannehill.suite101.com/meaning_in_peasant_wedding_feast.

“Pieter Brugel the Elder.” The Artchive. 31 Jan. 2012. http://www.artchive.com /artchive/

            B/bruegel.html.

Venezia, Mike. Pieter Bruegel (Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Artists).   

            Connecticut: Children’s Press, 1993.