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Compare and Contrast:
“My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun”
&
“She Walks In Beauty”
Time has seen an infinite amount of beauty in its long existence. Nature has
produced so many wonderful scenes and objects that we cannot collect it all even in one
life. We ourselves are keepers of such beauty and intrigue that poets and other writers
have captured our essence in prose. Whether it’s beauty that is skin deep or the beauty of
a face that makes you look twice, what attracts us is not always what attracts your
neighbor. Shakespeare’s, “My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun,” and Lord
Byron’s, “She Walks in Beauty,” are the epitome of what men and women long for.
Although different in their interpretations of beauty, they hold true to the meaning of
beauty, and the meaning of love.
In Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the Sun,” beauty is
definitely only skin deep. Shakespeare’s description of his love is an abomination to the
quintessential woman every man lusts for. He describes her as having, “black wires grow
on her head” (Mistress line 4), instead of the beautiful, long black hair that most men
would die for. Shakespeare also states, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That
music hath far a more pleasing sound” (Mistress line 9-10). The subject in this sonnet is
well beyond grotesque, and her voice is to be thought as a plague on the ears. However,
what she has to say to him and the way she say’s, “I Love You” is like music in
Shakespeare’s ears and his heart. No matter how unattractive she is to him or to anyone
else, only he knows her true beauty, and that lies deep inside her. Beauty is not just a
word, nor is it just an appearance to Shakespeare in this sonnet. Beauty is something that
has already been achieved by someone who is looking desperately to find it - that someone
being the woman. She seems like someone who Shakespeare is quite close to and not just
some tramp he pulled off the street. To be able to write about someone in this way, one
would have to know the inner thoughts and feelings of that someone. Shakespeare,
although in an odd fashion, poured her emotions, as well as his own, into this paradoxical
description of what love should be. To Shakespeare, what you see is not always what you
want, but what you know could be all you ever hoped for.
One of the most beautiful love poems ever written, “She Walks in Beauty,” is a
drawn out description of beauty and the love of such beauty. Lord Byron describes this
angelic creature as innocent, decisive, and perfect in every way, shape and form. He does
not say, however, that he loves her. If there is any hint of love at all, it is for her outside
appearance to the world. This could have been a gentle stranger he saw sitting in a tavern,
or just someone he had made up. At any rate, Lord Byron’s depiction of this mysterious
woman is one of great admiration and lust. The reader does not learn any more of her,
nothing about her personality or her wit. Byron tends to skip these rather skeptical details
perhaps because she was a horrible person. She may have been stuck up and snobby, and
may have let no man near her that didn’t have enough money to support her. Then again,
she may have been the local prostitute whose morals were as low as her profession.
However one would look at her, however one would want to describe her, she was “so
soft, so calm, yet eloquent” (Beauty line 14) and “,,,all that’s best of dark and bright”
(Beauty line 3).
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to coin the well over-used phrase. William
Shakespeare and Lord Byron, two of the most renowned poets of all time, both held
beauty at high standards. Although different, both authors expressed a great love for what
one can see and for what one can know. For Byron, it seemed that what you see is what
you get. That beauty is a woman who can turn the head of every man as she walks down
a street, or a woman who can make time stand still when she enters a room. Byron’s
fantasy was every man’s fantasy, and his words drew a picture of radiance and perfection.
For Shakespeare, on the other hand, what you see isn’t what you get, but what you know
is more than you could ever hope for. A perfect woman in every way but her appearance.
His words drew an abstract picture of beauty, but if one looked close enough one would
see that beauty doesn’t always have to lay with perfection. Everyone today is so wrapped
up in what is beautiful and what is supposed to be the “ideal” woman, that no one stops to
look at the real person behind such beauty or behind such repugnance. It isn’t always
about what looks best, who looks best, or who looks best with who. It’s about
understanding, it’s about Love. To love someone for who they’re not is simply a waste,
but to love someone for who they are, now that is perfection.
Word Count: 892
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