My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun
1.
Work out the rhyme scheme of this poem using letters, such as “a”, to represent the sounds at the end of each line. abab cdcd efef gg
2.
What is the tone of the poem? Quote extensively from the poem to support your answer. For me this poem is humorous and realistic, because most poets, who are writing sonnets, would praise the ones they love and not be realistic about their imperfections. “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red (line 1 / 2)”
Here he is comparing her eyes with the sun and the colour of her lips with coral red.
“And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. (line7 / 8)”
Here he states that his mistress breath’s stinks and that some perfumes gives him “more delight”.
“I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / that music hath a far more pleasing sound (line 9 / 10)”
He claims that he loves to hear her speak, but the sound of music is much more of a pleasing sound than the sound of her voice.
“I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. (line 11 / 12)
The speaker claims in line 11, that he has never seen goddess move, but in his eyes a goddess will move like an angle. The speaker says that his mistress does not move like an angel but she walk on ground. There is also a calm and romantic love tone, because at the end he tells us how much he loves her for the person she is.
”And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare. (line 13/14)”
3.
In this poem, the poet seems to be mocking or making fun of the Mistress’s looks. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer by quoting from the poem. Yes, I do agree. He is not sugar coating his mistress’s appearance. He is saying that his mistress is not flawless as the ones you see in the magazines, with the red lips, hair that looks so soft and radiant, she is the opposite, she’s human.
“Coral is far more red than her lips’ red (line
Work out the rhyme scheme of this poem using letters, such as “a”, to represent the sounds at the end of each line. abab cdcd efef gg
2.
What is the tone of the poem? Quote extensively from the poem to support your answer. For me this poem is humorous and realistic, because most poets, who are writing sonnets, would praise the ones they love and not be realistic about their imperfections. “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips’ red (line 1 / 2)”
Here he is comparing her eyes with the sun and the colour of her lips with coral red.
“And in some perfumes is there more delight / Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. (line7 / 8)”
Here he states that his mistress breath’s stinks and that some perfumes gives him “more delight”.
“I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / that music hath a far more pleasing sound (line 9 / 10)”
He claims that he loves to hear her speak, but the sound of music is much more of a pleasing sound than the sound of her voice.
“I grant I never saw a goddess go; / My mistress when she walks treads on the ground. (line 11 / 12)
The speaker claims in line 11, that he has never seen goddess move, but in his eyes a goddess will move like an angle. The speaker says that his mistress does not move like an angel but she walk on ground. There is also a calm and romantic love tone, because at the end he tells us how much he loves her for the person she is.
”And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare. (line 13/14)”
3.
In this poem, the poet seems to be mocking or making fun of the Mistress’s looks. Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer by quoting from the poem. Yes, I do agree. He is not sugar coating his mistress’s appearance. He is saying that his mistress is not flawless as the ones you see in the magazines, with the red lips, hair that looks so soft and radiant, she is the opposite, she’s human.
“Coral is far more red than her lips’ red (line