Question

Which sentence best describes this excerpt from Shakespeare's Sonnet 130?

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;

A. The poet uses unusual metaphors to imply the intensity of his love.
B. The poet admits that his mistress falls short of poetic ideals of beauty.
C. The poet expresses his contempt for poetic ideals of beauty.
D. The poet conveys his disillusionment with his mistress.

Answer 1

Answer: B. The poet admits that his mistress falls short of poetic ideals of beauty.

Explanation: The answer is B because the poet uses unusual and exaggerated metaphors to describe his mistress, intentionally presenting her as not fitting the typical ideal of beauty as often portrayed in traditional love poems. For example, he says that her eyes are nothing like the sun and that her cheeks do not hold the red and white roses seen in traditional poems. By doing so, the poet is admitting that his mistress falls short of the conventional standards of beauty, but still declares his love for her in spite of it. The tone of the poem is one of honest and straightforward realism, as opposed to idealization.