Sonnet 130 Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay

She's definitely the star of this show. Every line refers to her, whether it's describing her appearance or her smell or the way she walks. We learn a few things about her, like the color of her ha...

Eyes are something we focus on in other people, so it's no surprise that they are always cropping up in love poetry. You know the old saying, "The eyes are the windows of the soul"? Well, that's ju...

Lips seem to be among the standard list of things you're supposed to notice in a beautiful woman. Think about a gorgeous movie star, for example. When she has a close-up in a particular scene, the...

For obvious reasons, breasts are a classic symbol of female beauty. We'll keep this G-rated, but you can see why talking about this woman's breasts forces us to think about how we define an ideal w...

Another major cliché about women's beauty is that their hair should be silky smooth and shiny. Shakespeare turn this assumption on its head in a big way in this poem. Readers in Shakespeare's...

If the ideal woman in Shakespeare's time was supposed to have skin as white as snow and smooth and blond hair, then her cheeks are probably going to have to be pink and rosy too. You've probably pi...

Faults such as your hair not being just right, or your eyes being the wrong color, might be easy to overlook; but bad breath, that's something else altogether. Shakespeare seems to be having fun he...

Just a couple more things to round out the list. She should of course have a beautiful voice to go with all the rest of it. Or maybe not…Lines 9-10: As always, the speaker rejects the obvious...

Of course this perfect woman that the speaker is taking apart would have to be as graceful as an angel too. Throughout the poem he's been setting up two portraits, side by side. One is of an ideal...