Sonnet 130

This speaker sounds like the guy at the back of your class who is always cracking jokes. He can't stand to do anything the way other people do, and even when he's supposed to be serious, he has to find a way to poke fun. In this case, it feels like his teacher has told him to write a love poem. He's finally done it, but not without making fun of the whole idea of love poems. So, yeah, he might drive people around him crazy. On the other hand, his sarcastic tone keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously, and he has a way of turning things on their head and making us see them in a new way. Finally, even though the speaker can't be serious for more than two lines, he still shows, at the end, that he has a sincere and thoughtful side, and that he can let his guard down long enough to let people see that side.