#sonnet130

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare   As any she belied with false compare.

Antipholus of Ephesus, A Comedy of Errors Part of my new showreel By William Shakespeare read by Martin Alexander #sonnet130 #sonnet #williamshakespeare #shakespeare #Actor #entrepreneur #mentor #creative #director #producer #followthejourney #lovethegame #feelunstoppable #martinalexander #castings #auditions (at United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_wpArHGNc/?igshid=1tggq6qzpkdu1

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): Hxtory revisonism, womxn of color (WOC) erasure, sex. End CN. Image Description (ID): Tena Gordon (@reformistrevolutionaryrose), a Blindian with short Afro hair, is smiling against a striped towel and bright pink wall. End ID. Sonnet 130 Analysis, Part 1, by Tena: “Sonnet 130,”  dubiously credited to #WilliamShakespeare in The Seagull Reader: Poems, abides by the traditional structural elements of English sonnets; however, “Sonnet 130” diverges from tradition by portraying the love interest more realistically. The following is the likely rhetorical situation: the speaker appreciates their lover for who they are, the audience is the speaker’s friend, the setting is a private space like the speaker or friend’s home or an intimate public space like a bar, and the occasion is the speaker’s friend inquiring about the speaker’s love interest... As opposed to extravagant metaphors, the author employs literal descriptions. For example, their mistress walks like the average able-bodied person, perhaps clumsily (12). Moreover, the mistress is portrayed as having greyish brown “dun” breasts (3) and coarse “wiry” black hair (4), traits commonly associated with people of African descent. Also, natural blush or makeup blush on darker skin people is often not as visible or bright as on lighter skin people; hence, “But no such roses see I in her cheeks” (6). Therefore, “the mistress” is likely based on #AemiliaBassanoLanier, an African Jewish womxn who is the author of works credited to Shakespeare (Hudson 2009), or #LucyMorgan, a black entrepreneur womxn in the British sex industry (Morris 2012). In the concluding couplet of the poem, the speaker swears to God or expresses joy in loving their mistress: “And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). The speaker affirms that they love their mistress just as much as the traditional poets who characterize their love interests by exaggerated analogies. The speaker juxtaposes descriptions of their love interest with descriptions of love interests in traditional love poems, indicating that “Sonnet 130” is Horatian satire. End of #Sonnet130 Analysis, Part 1.

Compare the way love is presented in ‘Valentine’ and ‘Sonnet130’ Compare and contrast the way in which love is presented in the poems ‘valentine’ by Carol Ann Duffy and ‘sonnet 130’ by William Shakespeare.