New criticism of Shakespeare ‘s sonnet 130

 

       “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” is one of the most famous William shakespeare’s sonnets. Beauty is its major theme. The poet compares his mistress beauty with the beauty of nature. To study the text of this sonnet, a new criticism will be applied on it.

 

       New criticism is directed against the prevailing concern of critics with the lives and psychology of authors, with social background, and with literary history. New criticism installed a theory that insisted on the importance of the text and of its patterning, both verbal and conceptual.New critics are interested in how the parts of a text relate to create harmony-order-paradox-ambiguity.The key concepts of this criticism deal with the meanings and interactions of words, figures of speech, and symbols.

 

      The sonnet has three stanzas; three quatrains and it has a couplet at the end. The first stanza from”my mistress’ eyes” to “her head”. In this quatrain the poet  uses comparison to show that his mistress lacks beauty .The second stanza from “ I have seen” to “my mistress reeks”. The third one from “ I love to hear” to the ground”. In the second and third quatrains the poet insults her appearance. Whereas  in the last two lines ; in the couplet , the poet expresses his love to his mistress and sees her as rare. For The verses of  this sonnet , they are short and  they have the same length which create harmony.The text of this sonnet is well structured.

 

        The sonnet include various literary devices , yet comparison is over used than any other literary device. For instance, in the First stanza “ coral is far more red than her lips’ red”. In  this verse there is comparison between  the lips’ color of the mistress and  the color of a substance from nature “coral”. The poet sees that coral color  is more red than the lips’ color of his mistress. In addition to that , the poet utilizes rhyme in this sonnet. For example, “sun, dun”, “ white,delight” , “ sound, ground”. This literary device  gives to the sonnet a specific sound. Repetition is Also more used for example, the repletion of the words “Wires, if, red…” for the poet emphasizes his ideas. paradox  as well is used in this sonnet. In the three quatrains the poet expresses the lack of beauty of his mistress and insults her through comparing her beauty with the beauty of other things from nature , whereas in the couplet he expresses his love for her as she is rare, and  this shows contradiction in his saying.

 

      The sonnet 130 “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” is one of shakespeare’s famous sonnets .a well structured sonnet in terms of stanzas and verses .Through reading the sonnet, at the beginning the poet Insults his mistress appearance and expresses her lack of beauty, yet at the end contradicts his saying.