Sonnet 130 Figurative Language

They were both talking about a woman, but the women were different. Sonnet 18 was about a woman who was divine, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and more temperate” (Shakespeare lines 1-2) However, Sonnet 18 was not about love. No where in the poem did Shakespeare speak of love, he only mentioned the women’s looks. The mistress in Sonnet 130 was someone who Shakespeare was in love with, “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” (Shakespeare lines 11-14). He clearly said in the poem that he loved the women. The poems differ in their tones. In Sonnet 18 Shakespeare seems to use

Imagery is used throughout the entire poem unlike Sonnet 18. In Sonnet 130 Shakespeare tries to paint a picture of the woman using his words. He does this in a poetic way without directly telling the reader exactly what the woman looks like. Instead of saying the woman has dark eyes, Shakespeare describes them by saying her eyes look nothing like the sun. Shakespeare also does this with a few of her features such as her hair and cheeks. He compares her dark hair to black wires to create more of a picture with metaphors. Shakespeare also describes her colorless cheeks by saying he cannot see the color of a rose in her

In Sonnet 18 he is putting this woman on a pedestal. He asked to compare her to the summer’s day, then explains why he refused to compare her to a summer’s day, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and temperate” (Shakespeare lines 1-2). He said that summer is too short, which means it will eventually fade, “And summer’s lease hath all too short a date”(Shakespeare line 4). He also said that the summer could be too hot and that the seasons will always change here, “Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines.” (Shakespeare line 5) and here, “By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed”(Shakespeare line 8). Shakespeare states that the winds could be vicious during summer as well. He explains that she will live eternally through the Sonnet and so will her beauty, “But thy eternal summer shall not fade / nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st”(Shakespeare lines 9-10). Although in Sonnet 130 he was no longer naive and explained her for the real woman she was, “My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground” (Shakespeare line 12), that means that instead of being on a pedestal she roams the ground. She does not feel the need to be with all the other women. He says that even though her voice is not lovely, he still enjoys listening to her speak, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / that music hath a far more pleasing sound”(Shakespeare 9-10).