If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; Next come the mistress’s breasts. They get pretty much the same treatment as her lips. If the reddest red is like coral, then the whitest white is the color of snow. A poet could praise a woman for having skin as white as snow.

What does her breasts are dun mean?

Unfortunately, it just makes her sound uglier. Dun is a word often used to describe the color of a horse, and definitely not the kind of thing a woman would be thrilled to hear about her breasts. Line 4.

What does the word dun mean in Sonnet 130?

Glossary. 1 My … sun: i.e. her eyes are not bright and shining. 3 dun: dull coloured, or greyish-brown. 4 wires: (gold) wires.

What does Sonnet 130 mean line by line?

Summary: Sonnet 130
This sonnet compares the speaker’s lover to a number of other beauties—and never in the lover’s favor. Her eyes are “nothing like the sun,” her lips are less red than coral; compared to white snow, her breasts are dun-colored, and her hairs are like black wires on her head.

What do the last 2 lines of Sonnet 130 mean?

Here are two lines in plain English: the speaker thinks that his lover is as wonderful (“rare”) as any woman (“any she”) who was ever misrepresented (“belied”) by an exaggerated comparison (“false compare”). These last two lines are the payoff for the whole poem.

Is Sonnet 130 about a black woman?

Other scholars have suggested, given Shakespeare’s description of her dark, dun-colored skin and black wiry hair, that the Dark Lady might have been a woman of African descent. Ultimately, “none of the many attempts at identifying the dark lady…are finally convincing”.

What is the main theme of Sonnet 130?

Major Themes in “Sonnet 130”: Love, appearances, and admiration are the major themes of this sonnet. The poem presents two things: the worldly standard of beauty and the poet’s definition of beauty. Throughout the poem, he talks about the physical features of his mistress that do not match the standards of beauty.

What does Coral is far more red than her lips red mean?

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red. Simile: This sentence means that the coral is way more red than her lips which compares something, her lips and the coral. Saying the coral is more red than her lips means that her lips are very dull as coral is mostly vibrant red.

What is the irony in Sonnet 130?

This line is ironic because usually in love sonnets the author will use ridiculous comparisons to describe how great someone is. However, Shakespeare does the opposite and says her eyes are not like the sun.

What does the visual image of the sickle in sonnet 16 express about time?

Love has no obstacles and exists only when it is unmoved through change. The speaker of “Sonnet 116” uses the visual image of the sickle, a harvesting tool, to convey the idea that time… makes changes in people’s lives.

What happens to the name the speaker writes on the sand What does the speaker do then?

The strand, in case you are not up on Spenser’s lingo, is another name for the shore—you know, the sandy part of the beach. So the speaker and his beloved are chilling at the beach, and he decides to get all romantic and write her name in the sand. Aw, cuteness. But then the waves wash away her name—sadness.

How does the speaker describe the hair of his beloved in Sonnet 130?

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. The poetic persona opens ‘Sonnet 130’ with a scathing remark on his beloved’s eyes. They are “nothing like the sun”. As per Elizabethan tradition, such a comparison would have been almost expected.

What’s the attitude of Sonnet 130?

The tone of Sonnet 130 is definitely sarcastic. Most sonnets, including others written by Shakespeare, praised women and practically deified them.

What is meant by roses Damasked in sonnet No 130?

There’s a tricky word here: damasked. Basically it just means a pattern of mixed colors woven into expensive fabric. So imagine a rose with a white and red pattern on it, or maybe a bouquet of red and white roses. Our speaker has seen beautiful roses like that, but his mistress’s cheeks don’t remind him of them at all.

What is the relevance of the last two lines to the meaning of the poem Sonnet 116?

Sonnet 116 sets out to define true love by firstly telling the reader what love is not. It then continues on to the end couplet, the speaker (the poet) declaring that if what he has proposed is false, his writing is futile and no man has ever experienced love.

How does the poet of sonnet 16 define true love?

The poet has explained true love in a very free way. Ex-pressing his faith in the power of true love, the poet says that there can be no obstacles in the union of true lovers. True love is unchanging. It never changes even when there is a chance of change.

Why according to the poet can love not be altered?

(c) According to the poet, love cannot be altered because true love is not susceptible to time and can stand the test of time. It is constant and no one can change the love that is true.

What does wand’ring bark mean?

In the second quatrain, the speaker tells what love is through a metaphor: a guiding star to lost ships (“wand’ring barks”) that is not susceptible to storms (it “looks on tempests and is never shaken”).

What do you think is meant by the line love is not love which alters when it alteration finds?

The hidden meaning is that love is not love when it is constantly changing when one person has noticed that their beloved has changed. If one changes, the relationship should stay the same. “Or bends with the remover to remove.” This line is saying that love is not love if it changes with another.

Why does the poet say love alters when it alteration find?

In these lines, the speaker is telling the reader that if love changes, it is not truly loved because if it changes, or if someone tries to “remove” it, nothing will change it.

How does the poet feel about his mistress’s voice?

How does the poet feel about his mistress’s voice? a. Its grating sound makes him cringe.

What is the meaning of bends with the remover to remove?

What does all that “bends with the remover to remove” business mean? Basically, it makes the above point even more vehemently, claiming that even when someone tries to “remove” affection, real love doesn’t give in and disappear. Faced with difficulties or adversity, love will always survive.

What are the alterations that love finds and what causes these?

In the second and third lines of this sonnet, the speaker declares that “Love is not love / Which alters when it alteration finds.” In other words, according to the speaker, true love is love which does not alter or change according to circumstances, or “alteration[s].” One such alteration might be a change in the

What is the theme of the marriage of true minds?

William Shakespeare’s poem “Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds” is a sonnet written in Shakespearean form. The main subject of this poem is love and the central theme is that love bears all. The poem’s setting is in a narrative form whereby the poet-orator is a man who is relating to love with an imperial tone.

What does the edge of doom mean?

Doom, n., 6.
The last or great Judgement at the end of the world. _{Oxford English Dictionary}. So that “to the edge of doom” means “until the end of the world”.

What metaphor has been used in the poem Let me not to the marriage of true minds?

In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116, the speaker compares love to “a star to every wandering bark.” This is a metaphor in which love is compared to the North Star or a constellation that is used by sailors to guide their ships, or “barks.” In Shakespeare’s time, sailors would often guide their boats at night by looking at the

What view of love does the speaker react against in the poem?

What view of love does the speaker react against in Sonnet 116? The speaker reacts against the view that love is fickle.

Why has love been compared to a star ‘?

Why is love compared to a pole star? Solution : A pole star is positioned in the very same place. It does not escape its permanent position. Similarly, love never changes.