Content Notice (CN): Reference to misogynoir (oppression specifically against Black womxn). End of CN. Image Description (ID): Tena, a dark-skin person of color, smirks as zhe looks upward, off camera. Zhe is wearing dark jean coveralls with a white tee shirt. End of ID. Credit: The Literary and Social Traditions of “Sonnet 130” by Tena Gordon (@reformistrevolutionaryrose). End of Credit. Part 4, the Final Part: “Sonnet 130,” being satire, critiques unrealistic beauty standards but does not deconstruct the beauty standards themselves. The speaker could have described the mistress’ talents and interests in addition to, or instead of, the mistress’ looks. What is the mistress’ personality, education, etc.? The audience is not given the opportunity to emotionally connect to the mistress on a deeper level, much like other English sonnets. Instead, womxn, especially of color, are situated as background members of society. Works Cited Hudson, John. “Amelia Bassano Lanier: A New Paradigm.” The Oxfordian, vol. 10, 2009, https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/Oxfordian2009_Hudson_Bassano.pdf. Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 130.” The Seagull Reader: Poems, edited by Joseph Kelly, 3rd ed., Norton, 2015, pp. 280. End of Part 4, the Final Part. Hashtags: #sonnet130 #AemiliaBassanoLanier #AemiliaBassano #AemiliaLanier #AemiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassano #EmiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassanoLanyer #EmiliaLanier #WilliamShakespeare End of Hashtags.

Content Notice (CN): Reference to misogynoir (oppression specifically against Black womxn). End of CN. Image Description (ID): Tena, a dark-skin person of color, smirks as zhe looks upward, off camera. Zhe is wearing dark jean coveralls with a white tee shirt. End of ID. Credit: The Literary and Social Traditions of “Sonnet 130” by Tena Gordon (@reformistrevolutionaryrose). End of Credit. Part 3: Additionally, the speaker is vague in their descriptions of the mistress, as none of the traits are unique to one individual. The absent identity of the mistress homogenizes womxn of color. The ambiguity of the mistress may serve to guard the white speaker against backlash over an interracial relationship or love affair. Some readers may even assume the mistress is white, too. Only audience members with the relevant background knowledge or research interests will deduce that the mistress is likely Aemilia Bassano Lanier, a Moroccan Jewish womxn (Hudson 2009). She was “the first woman in England to publish a book of original poetry” and she had a rich background in the arts, namely theater and music (Hudson 2009). Nevertheless, the mistress’ livelihood and achievements are never discussed in the poem. If Aemilia Bassano Lanier is indeed the author of “Sonnet 130,” then the poem could serve as a social commentary on how white men are infatuated with womxn of color yet do not treat them as their own person. Therefore, the speaker represents a white man objectifying a womxn of color. Superficially, “Sonnet 130” seems revolutionary. The speaker is more realistic than other English sonnets in their characterization of a mistress. Members of the audience may even appreciate a mistress they can physically relate to. The mistress seems like the average womxn in the audience. However, the speaker in “Sonnet 130” is problematic for making the mistress’ appearance and mannerisms the center of the poem. End of Part 3. Hashtags: #sonnet130 #AemiliaBassanoLanier #AemiliaBassano #AemiliaLanier #AemiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassano #EmiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassanoLanyer #EmiliaLanier #WilliamShakespeare End of Hashtags.

Content Notice (CN): Reference to misogynoir (oppression specifically against Black womxn). End of CN. Image Description (ID): Tena, a dark-skin person of color, smirks as zhe looks upward, off camera. Zhe is wearing dark jean coveralls with a white tee shirt. End of ID. Credit: The Literary and Social Traditions of “Sonnet 130” by Tena Gordon (@reformistrevolutionaryrose). End of Credit. Part 2: The line, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know” (8), leads readers to predict the speaker will continue to relish in the mistress’ voice. Yet, the succeeding line, “That music hath a far more pleasing sound” (9), disrupts the common comparison of a womxn’s voice to music. If the audience does not read these two lines as a complete thought, they will likely become confused as to how these two lines relate to each other. Hence, the structure of “Sonnet 130” is strategically basic so that readers can focus on its figurative level. Moreover, the author’s literal descriptions differ from the outlandish analogies characterizing the love poem genre. The speaker states, “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun,” (3) and “If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head” (4). The mistress has darker skin (3, 6) and coarse hair (4), not the pale skin and silky hair characterizing the mistresses in other English sonnets. Of importance, the speaker does not describe their mistress as having “skin of mahogany with a head full of wool” either. Hence, the speaker [may attempt to avoid] fetishizing the mistress’ Afrocentric features. Still, the speaker perpetuates misogynoir by spending most of the poem discussing the mistress’ physical traits. End of Part 2. Hashtags: #sonnet130 #AemiliaBassanoLanier #AemiliaBassano #AemiliaLanier #AemiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassano #EmiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassanoLanyer #EmiliaLanier #WilliamShakespeare End of Hashtags.

Content Notice (CN): Reference to misogynoir (oppression specifically against Black womxn). End of CN. Image Description (ID): Tena, a dark-skin person of color, smirks as zhe looks upward, off camera. Zhe is wearing dark jean coveralls with a white tee shirt. End of ID. Credit: The Literary and Social Traditions of “Sonnet 130” by Tena Gordon (@reformistrevolutionaryrose). End of Credit. Part 1: “Sonnet 130,” questionably attributed to William Shakespeare in The Seagull Reader: Poems, features a speaker responding to a close friend’s inquiry about the speaker’s lover. English sonnets are known to centralize love and confession, so this rhetorical situation is not noteworthy. Thus, the tone and message is what may seem peculiar to readers. The lover is not hailed to be remarkable. The speaker opts to describe her more simply. Despite being in an intimate space, the speaker is defensive, purposefully countering stereotypes of how a love interest should look and sound. The speaker makes it clear that their lover is not Snow White or particularly divine. But, why is the mistress defined by what she is not? The speaker seems to hold preconceived notions of how a mistress should be. Although “Sonnet 130” deviates from traditional imagery, the poem conforms to the structural, misogynist, and racist traditions of English sonnets.   Considerably, the organization of “Sonnet 130” is commonly associated with English sonnets. “Sonnet 130” has three quatrains and a concluding couplet, totaling 14 lines, so the audience can comfortably scan the poem. Furthermore, each stanza has an “abab” end rhyme, such as the third quatrain rhyming “know” (9) with “go” (11) and “sound” (10) with “ground” (12). Likewise, the end rhyme “rare” (13) and “compare” (14) in the couplet is a satisfying rhythmic conclusion. This rhyme pattern facilitates the flow of the poem and is familiar to the audience, allowing the enjambment to contradict the expectations conditioned in the audience. End of Part 1. Hashtags: #sonnet130 #AemiliaBassanoLanier #AemiliaBassano #AemiliaLanier #AemiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassano #EmiliaLanyer #EmiliaBassanoLanyer #EmiliaLanier #WilliamShakespeare End of Hashtags.