Themes and message

Clichés and love poetry

In “Sonnet 130”, William Shakespeare uses humor to explore the clichés that are used in love poems. The speaker argues that they fail to offer a real image of his mistress – or indeed of any woman. 

Whereas another poet might describe a woman’s eyes as being like the sun, the speaker of “Sonnet 130” rejects this comparison completely: “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like sun.” (l. 1). This does not mean that the woman’s eyes are not beautiful, but that such an exaggerated comparison does not give a true impression of her appearance. 

Similarly, the speaker says: “If s...

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