dull greyish brown, like the hair of the ass and mouse. OED glosses it as: Of a dull or dingy brown colour now esp.
The wittiness of this line is is in the use of the agrestunal word 'dun', which brings the reader down to earth with a bump.
Breasts were also compared to pearl and ivory.
Shakespearean sonnet definition skin#
Skin and breasts were often described as whiter than snow. If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun lips here could be read as singular or plural. The comparison of lips with coral was commonplace. OED.1.a gives the following information: Historically, and in earlier literature and folk-lore, the name belongs to the beautiful red coral, an arborescent species, found in the Red Sea and Mediterranean, prized from times of antiquity for ornamental purposes, and often classed among precious stones. Coral is far more red, than her lips red: Coral - In Shakespeare's day only the red variety would have been generally available. Shakespeare uses it himself in the sonnets to the youth:Īgainst that time when thou shalt strangely passĪnd scarcely greet me with that sun thine eye, 49 2. My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun A traditional comparison. Her feet, fair T HETIS praiseth evermore.īut Ah, the worst and last is yet behind :Ĭommentary 1. Her smiles and favours, sweet as honey be. The spheres, her voice her grace, the Graces three
Her breast displays two silver fountains bright Her cheeks, red roses, such as seld have been Her eyes the brightest stars the heavens hold Her front the purest crystal eye hath seen My Lady's hair is threads of beaten gold My wound still bleeds, although the bow's unbent. More than an earthly voice it was that sang: The way she walked was not the way of mortals There are many others, and the tradition of fulsome praise in this vein stretches back to Petrarch and his sonnets to Laura.
On the contrary, although the octet makes many negative comparisons, the sestet contrives to make one believe that the sound of her voice is sweeter than any music, and that she far outdistances any goddess in her merely human beauties and her mortal approachability.Ī typical sonnet of the time which uses lofty comparisons to praise a beloved idol is given below. It is often said that the praise of his mistress is so negative that the reader is left with the impression that she is almost unlovable. With a deftness of touch that takes away any sting that might otherwise arise from implied criticism of other sonneteers, the poet satirises the tradition of comparing one's beloved to all things beautiful under the sun, and to things divine and immortal as well.