My Misstress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun
The Surprise Reversal in the Rhyming Couplet.
"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As and she belied with false compare."
In lines thirteen and fourteen, the poet explains how down to earth she is and how the speaker’s love is rare. The change in tone tells us that the poet in the first eight lines are not discontentment but truth. Shakespeare ends the sonnet by proclaiming his love for his mistress despite her lack of beauty. The poet clearly intends the couplet to "undo" the negativity said to his reader's and that he indeed loves his mistress by the degrading negative words the poet said in the previous twelve lines. Therefore, he begins the couplet with a coordinating conjunction, followed by a contrastive adverb that says the rhyming couplet only appears to confront the rest of the poem. The first two words of the couplet, "And yet," delay his statement of love, and the oath, "by heav'n." Further delays the acknowledgement to the middle of the line. The poet begins his genuine statement of love "I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare."In the couplet, the poet changes the direction of the sonnet, "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare, As any she belied with false compare", he states his true feelings for his mistress, the couplet changes from the negativity 12 lines to a positive rhyming couplet. The poet concludes his poem with compliments in the last two lines.
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