By using the poetic device of personification we are convinced that the poet is comparing with the most beautiful thing in the whole world.
Image after image creates the mood of extreme love and also sadness because he was falling apart because of this love. We can see this in the line “Daphne’s snowy hand but touched does melt, and then no heavenlier warmth is felt”, if you touch her hand would melt and you wouldn’t feel the heavenlier warmth. “My Daphne’s voice tunes all the spheres,” This line suggests that her voice fills all the planets because of her beauty. “My Daphne’s music charm all ears” means that she was like a “siren”; because of her singing she could charms anybody. In the line “Fond am I thus to sing her praise; these glories now are turned to bays” the poet is trying to show us that he won’t see her any more so he would cry until the end for his “Daphne’s”.
In total contrast to “My Daphne’s is hair twisted gold”, the second poem “My Mistress Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun” deals with the theme of the love of a woman in an entirely different way. It is negative, but realistic, accepting his love the way she is with all her defects and virtues; he is talking about a real woman.
In the first line Shakespeare writes, “My Mistress´Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun”, this means that her eyes are as normal as the eyes of all the people, they are not shining. In a further line “Coral is far more red than her lips´red”, it shows us that coral is redder than her lips; her lips don’t reveal anything special either. Shakespeare goes on to write, “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun”. In this line the poet refers that her breast is not like the snow it is brunette or a darker colour; her breast is not white. In the next line “if hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head,” the line suggests that her hair is not so pretty it looks like black wires.
In line “I have seen roses damask´d, red and white, but no such roses see I in her cheeks,” the poet suggests in that she is normal, she doesn’t have roses in her cheeks. He had seen roses but not on her. Next we read “And in some perfumes is there more delight” and here he suggests that she doesn’t smell beautiful as perfumes; she probably doesn’t bathe daily. Here “Than in breath that from my mistress reeks” she probably doesn’t even have pleasant breath and she smells very strongly, she might eat onions or garlic. He shows us also “I love to hear her speak; yet well I know that music hath a far more pleasing sound” The poet likes her voice but, he thinks it is more pleasing to hear music than her voice.
Towards the end of the poem, he makes the point that “I grant I never saw a goddess go; my mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground”. Here, he also makes a point that she is mortal and normal like a human being, she touches the ground. He shows us this powerful image “And yet, by heaven I think my love as rare, as any she belied with false compare”. These lines tell us that his love is normal, but special, and it cannot be compared to others, he loves her with all her defects. Maybe they are not defects, but things that make her normal like us.
In conclusion, we can see how differently these two poets feel about the theme of the “love for a woman”. In both cases they show different attitudes. In the poem “My Daphne’s Hair is Twisted Gold” by John Lyly, he shows us the kind of love that make us see that loved person, as the greatest and most perfect, in this case woman but not a real one. He is talking about a goddess.
In the poem “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” by William Shakespeare, the poet shows us the simplest kind of love-the love for a real woman with defects but in the end with virtues as well. For him she was a rare beauty one that didn’t bathe, or had a strong breath, but all of that converts her into a human being.
In my opinion I feel that the first poet is more fictitious, but is more touching, any woman would like to hear those words from a man. It is deeper; this is the kind of poem for a man that is deeply in love.
The second one is more realistic, it tells us the things in the way that they are, and it isn’t a touching poem. Here are two ways to see the love, one seen as a dream and the other one like the real life. But they are the ways that the poets look at it.
Cecy Palacios Reyes
