Sonnet 130

William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is a satirical poem and a love poem. The sonnet meets the criteria for the former since the speaker makes fun of conventional beauty norms and how poets tend to idealize women in their works. The poem specifically makes fun of the sonnets of the 14th-century Italian poet Francesco Petrarca or, as he’s become known, Petrarch. In poems like “Sonnet 101,” Petrarch’s love does make him think of typically beautiful things, like “fresh roses” (Line 9). At the same time, “Sonnet 130” is a sincere love poem since the speaker truly cares about his romantic partner and their relationship. Although the series of comparisons appear unflattering, the speaker doesn’t want to insult his mistress. Instead, he wishes to illustrate how she truly is because how she is in real life is what makes their love “rare” (Line 13).

Based on the speaker’s unvarnished depiction of his mistress, it’s safe to say the speaker is an honest person. As Shakespeare likely wrote the poem somewhere between the late 1500s and early 1600s, it’s logical to refer to the speaker as a man even though the speaker doesn’t refer to himself with masculine pronouns.