POEM
Sonnet CXXX: My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing like the Sun
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
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.
Source: The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume One, Seventh Edition (2000)
Actor, dramatist, and poet, William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is the most highly regarded . . . MORE »
More Poems by William Shakespeare
Sonnet I: From fairest creatures we desire increase
Sonnet LX: Like as the Waves Make towards the Pebbled Shore
Sonnet XIX: Devouring Time, Blunt thou the Lion's Paws
Sonnet LIII: "What is your substance, whereof are you made"
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