My Black-Wired Love (Question 8)

I think Shakespeare's "My mistress' eyes" is my favorite poem in this unit. Shakespeare's tone seems rather harsh and critical at first, yet it progresses into a tone of realistic yet loving sincerity. At first glance, however, this tone is not evident. After all, the first twelve lines contain several comparisons of the speaker's mistress' traits with things of beauty with the intent of stating that his lover's traits are inferior. Her eyes "are nothing like the sun", her hair is described as "black wires", and she is clearly described as not "a goddess". These statements and others directly oppose those statements usually used by poets to describe lovers or beauty. By doing this, the speaker points out the naiveté of making such exaggerated comparisons. At the end of the poem, the speaker's tone becomes less skeptical and more loving toward his mistress. Upon admitting his lover's humanity, the speaker affirms that his love for her is "as rare/ As any she belied with false compare." Instead of heaping false compliments upon his mistress, the speaker admits her imperfections and chooses to simply state that is love is as strong as any other love that requires such false compliments to survive. In comparison to the falsity of the others' love, the speaker's loving sincerity carries far more power because of its honesty.