To His Coy Mistress

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In “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the Sun,” Shakespeare uses a poem to contradict the standard love sonnet of his time. When other sonneteers were writing about all of the beauty of their lovers, Shakespeare decided to write what he felt was the truth. Shakespeare describes nature to paint vivid pictures of the things that his mistress is nothing like. He also uses very specific wording to help readers understand the points he tries to convey. Shakespeare ends the poem by telling his readers the reason why he tells of all of the things that his mistress is not like. Shakespeare uses descriptive words from nature to help paint pictures in readers’ minds. In the second line he states that “Coral is farm more red than her lips’ read.” He goes on to make many other similar descriptions. He even tells that her cheeks are nothing like the red and white roses. Shakespeare does not conform to the “norm” of the sonneteers of his time. He describes his mistress in contrast with natural phenomena, although the tradition was to compare the two (Hale 1). Shakespeare’s use of specific wording is vital to the understanding of the poem. He uses such words as “far more, no such, and well I know” to help the reader understand the exactly what he means and how strongly he feels about his mistress. Line four of the poem talks about his mistress’ wiry hair, leading the reader to believe that her hair is not of good health (Hale 1). Shakespeare also states that although the other women spoken of in more traditional love poems are said to be goddesslike, his mistress is nothing abnormally beautiful. The last two lines of the poem state “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she, belied with false compare.” In these two short lines, Shakespeare gives his readers the reason why he has contrasted his mistress with all of these beautiful things of nature. In this

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