Sonnet 130

I love Shakespeare's poem Sonnet 130 for it's unconventional approach to praising a female. In many poems written with the intent of fawning over a loved one the cliches that Shakespeare lists often appear, and they are displayed by the poet as proof that their love could not be any greater. However, here he one-ups any other love poem by declaring that his love goes beyond any mere comparison to the physical world. His love goes beyond the physical world because it does not do justice to how she looks to him; it confines his ability to describe her true beauty. In this way he has truly given her the greatest of compliments. The way the poem is structured also adds to the effect of what he is saying. Instead of just starting out by saying "your beauty is more than can be described by anything on earth" he waits until the end to make this sweeping statement. The insulting nature of the poem builds and builds until the point where you could almost see the woman he is presenting this to walking away in a fit of rage. At this exact point he drops the last two lines, making everything he said before become sweet-natured and somewhat comical.