Sonnet 130in modern English, side by side

The speaker describes his mistress — the 'Dark Lady' of the later sonnets — by refusing every clichéd compliment poets usually make about eyes, lips, and cheeks. It is a parody of exaggerated love poetry that ends as a genuine compliment.

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My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun.

Coral is far more red, than her lips red:

Coral is far redder than her lips.

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

If snow is white, then her breasts are a dull grayish-brown; if hairs are wires, then black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask’d, red and white,5

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 have seen damask roses, red and white, but I see no such roses in her cheeks — and some perfumes give more delight than the breath my mistress breathes out.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound:10

I love to hear her speak, and yet I know perfectly well that music has a far more pleasing sound.

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

I admit I never saw a goddess walk — my mistress, when she walks, steps on the ground.

And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,

As any she belied with false compare.

And yet, by heaven, I think my beloved is as extraordinary as any woman who has been misrepresented by false comparisons.

Famous lines in this scene

“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;” line 1

The most famous anti-love-poem opening in English. Poets of Shakespeare's day routinely compared a woman's eyes to the sun; he flatly refuses in line one. The joke targets clichéd flattery, not the woman — the poem ends by insisting she is as rare as any woman praised with lies.

“And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare.” line 13

The couplet flips fourteen lines of apparent insults into a compliment: his mistress is as extraordinary as any woman 'belied' — lied about — with false comparisons. Loving the real person beats loving a fantasy, making this a defense of honest love over poetic exaggeration.

Confused by a different line? Paste any Shakespeare — any play, any edition — and get it in modern English.

Studying the language itself? Our Shakespearean English course teaches thou/thee, the verbs, and the meter — free through Unit 2. Or try the Shakespearean English translator.