English Literature / Unit 7 ENL 0606 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Sonnet 130 and the Anti-Petrarchan Turn
Captions available
The idea
"My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun": the speaker refuses every Petrarchan comparison, coral lips, snowy breasts, golden hair. The couplet turns: his love is "as rare / As any she belied with false compare." The poem mocks the convention to praise honestly.
In practice
No sun, no coral, no snow, yet rare.
Where people slip
The poem is affectionate, not insulting.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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