Shakespeare and Collins: Ironic Sonnets

There comes a time when every great artist questions the integrity of the work he's producing. Even literary masters like William Shakespeare and Billy Collins have found the need to question the rigid rules that accompany many art forms. In Shakespeare's “My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun” and Collins' “Sonnet,” the authors defy such rules to prove that, perhaps, they are meant to be broken. Life is not always as predictable as poetry dictates, and these authors want to be sure that their readers are aware of that.

In the sonnet, “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun,” Shakespeare speaks about only one thing – his flawed lover. His words reflect romantic sonnets of the time, but simultaneously poke fun at them. The true purpose of the poem is not for Shakespeare to explain how undesirable his mistress is, but rather to cast an ironic voice towards the type of writing he, too, is well-known for.

He uses romantic imagery such as eyes like the sun (“My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun”), ruby red lips (“Coral is far more red than her lip's red”), rosy cheeks (“I have seen roses damasked, red and white / But no such roses see I in her cheeks”), perfume, delight (In some perfumes there is more delight / Than the breath with which my mistress reeks”), and pleasure (“I love to hear her speak, yet well I know / Music hath a far more pleasing sound”). However, he parodies these words with true life imagery of the woman he loves, a woman who is nothing that traditional poets write about. He confesses his love for this woman although she doesn't fit the typical mold for a beauty in a romantic poem.

This sonnet by Shakespeare was very rare for his time. It was very original in the fact that it depicted real love, as told through the eyes of a real lover. As Shakespeare admits his mistress' flaws, he realizes that they are what make her human. At the end of the sonnet, he writes: “I grant I never saw a goddess go / My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.” He means that he is unfamiliar with the goddesses of traditional romantic poetry, but knows that his own lover is real and tangible.

“Sonnet” by Collins parallels Shakespeare's piece by, once again, poking fun at traditional poetry. Collins, however, doesn't parody subject matter, rather, he points out the stiff structure of the sonnet itself. At first glance, it seems as though Collins' goal was to upset the sonnet form with his poem, but upon further inspection it is evident that he, too, has remained loyal to many of the rules for its form.

First and most noticeable, Collins strays from the traditional sonnet rule of rhyme. Although the poem has fourteen lines and is split into two sections, there is no noticeable rhyme pattern. The poem also mentions “iambic bongos,” a reference to the traditional meter of sonnets, iambic pentameter, although Collins himself doesn't stick to the rule.

While “Sonnet” defies the proper rules for a poem of its type, Collins still includes a discussion of the rules in his writing. “But hang on here wile we make the turn,” he writes, referring to the predictable change-of-pace on the ninth line of a sonnet. “Sonnet” makes this “turn,” as well; the first eight lines speak negatively about a sonnet's strict rules, while the ninth line ushers in a resolution to the problem.

Collins, like Shakespeare, doesn't want to be restrained by the rules of the art he creates. His poem is an attempt to break the mold, to prove that it is acceptable to try new techniques in writing. However, the fact that he still employs many of the sonnet's requirements proves that he still respects the structure that accompanies poetic form. Shakespeare employs a similar technique by using romantic words to describe the undesirableness of his mistress. Both of these authors use irony to deliver their message. By doing so, they are capable of both criticizing and praising the rules of poetry at the same time.


Works Cited
Collins, Billy. “Sonnet.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 553.
Shakespeare, William. “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter and Kelly J. Mays. New York: Norton, 2006. 552-553.