Sonnet 138: When my love swears that she is made of truth

“Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare (1609)

“Sonnet 130” is one of Shakespeare’s most famous sonnets. It gives the reader an idea of why scholars call the unnamed woman in Shakespeare’s sonnets the Dark Lady. Like “Sonnet 138,” “Sonnet 130” presents an imperfect woman. The lines in “130” describe her dark hair, eyes, and skin. Her features contrast with the Eurocentric and colonial ideal of beauty—blond hair, blue eyes, and light skin with rosy cheeks. However, both sonnets include the word “lie” embedded in a longer word. In “Sonnet 138,” the word “lie” is contained in the word “believe” (Line 2). In “Sonnet 130,” the word “lie” is contained in the word “belied” (Line 14). This latter example is contained in a phrase about flattery: “belied with false compare” (Line 14). Both “Sonnet 130” and “Sonnet 138” discuss flattery.

“Sonnet 12” by William Shakespeare (1609)

This sonnet is part of the Fair Youth group of sonnets, in which the speaker addresses a male “you” or, in Renaissance English, “thou” (Line 10). It also discusses age. Both “Sonnet 12” and “Sonnet 138” look at the “past” (Line 3 and Line 6, respectively), implying that the years of youth are the best. “Sonnet 12” suggests having children as a way to defeat aging, or “Time” (Line 13), more explicitly than “Sonnet 138.” The latter hints at sexual intimacy by punning on the word “lie,” while “Sonnet 12” says, “And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence / Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence” (Lines 13-14).

“Sonnet 1” by Philip Sidney (1591)

Prior to the publication of Shakespeare’s sonnets, Sidney published his sonnet sequence, Astrophil and Stella. “Sonnet 1” follows the same rhyme scheme as Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 138.” Both sonnets also consider “truth,” a word that appears in the first lines of both poems. However, Sidney’s “Sonnet 1” focuses on his act of writing flattering poems, while Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 138” focuses on the Dark Lady’s act of flattery that leads to becoming sexually intimate.

“Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind” by Thomas Wyatt (1557)

This sonnet is Wyatt’s loose translation of an Italian sonnet by Petrarch. The publication of this and other English translations of Petrarch in an anthology called Tottel’s Miscellany led to the sonnet becoming popular in England. In contrast to Wyatt’s poetry, Shakespeare’s sonnets came at a time when sonnets were becoming less popular in the English Renaissance.