Sonnet CXXX
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 damask’d, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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.
About this text
Sonnet CXXX is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shakespeare's Sonnets, Project Gutenberg ebook #1041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Shakespeare, Sonnet CXXX, in The Sonnets (1609), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shakespeare-sonnets/sonnet-130.html, id L00148.
Form and metre
Sonnet CXXX is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCDEFEFGG sunA · redB · dunA · headB · whiteC · cheeksD · delightC · reeksD · knowE · soundF · goE · groundF · rareG · compareG
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Coral is far more red, than her lips red: | 10 | /˘········ |
| If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; | 10 | ·········· |
| If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. | 10 | ···/·/···· |
| I have seen roses damask’d, red and white, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| But no such roses see I in her cheeks; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And in some perfumes is there more delight | 10 | ···˘/···˘/ |
| Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I love to hear her speak, yet well I know | 10 | ·········· |
| That music hath a far more pleasing sound: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| I grant I never saw a goddess go; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, | 10 | ···/······ |
| As any she belied with false compare. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··˘/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.