SONNET 130

SONNET 130 IS ALSO MY FAVORITE SONNET FROM GREAT MASTER OF ENGLISH LITERATURE FROM WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE IF YOU ARE READY WE ARE GONNA FOCUS ON MY MISTRESS' EYES ARE NOTHING LIKE THE SUN






AS YOU SEE IT IS THE OLD ENGLISH AND HARD TO UNDERSTAND EASILY LIKE I DID BEFORE,I WILL SHARE THE PARAPHRASING FORM.

SONNET 130	PARAPHRASE
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;	My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;	Coral is far more red than her lips;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;	If snow is white, then her breasts are a brownish gray;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.	If hairs are like wires, hers are black and not golden.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,	I have seen damask roses, red and white [streaked],
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;	But I do not see such colors in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight	And some perfumes give more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.	Than the horrid breath of my mistress.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know	I love to hear her speak, but I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;	That music has a more pleasing sound.
I grant I never saw a goddess go;	I've never seen a goddess walk;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:	But I know that my mistress walks only on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare	And yet I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.	As any woman who has been misrepresented by ridiculous comparisons.

Notes

dun (3): i.e., a dull brownish gray. 

roses damasked, red and white (5): This line is possibly an allusion to the rose known as the York and Lancaster variety, which the House of Tudor adopted as its symbol after the War of the Roses. The York and Lancaster rose is red and white streaked, symbolic of the union of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York. Compare The Taming of the Shrew: "Such war of white and red within her cheeks!" (4.5.32). Shakespeare mentions the damask rose often in his plays. Compare also Twelfth Night:

She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek. (2.4.118)

than the breath...reeks (8): i.e., than in the breath that comes out of (reeks from) my mistress.
As the whole sonnet is a parody of the conventional love sonnets written by Shakespeare's contemporaries, one should think of the most common meaning of reeks, i.e., stinks. Shakespeare uses reeks often in his serious work, which illustrates the modern meaning of the word was common. Compare Macbeth:

Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds
Or memorise another Golgotha,
I cannot tell. (1.2.44)

rare (13): special. 

she (14): woman. 

belied (14): misrepresented. 

with false compare (14): i.e., by unbelievable, ridiculous comparisons.