Shakespeare's Sonnet 130

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 has been one of my favorite poems of his for a very long time.  I really enjoy how he uses the poem to poke fun at the ideas and phrases commonly used in other works of poetry during this time.  In the first ten lines of the poem, the narrator seems to be almost insulting and looking down upon the woman that he is speaking about.  In the last two lines of the poem, however, we are able to understand what the true meaning of this poem actually is and that the speaker really does love this woman quite a bit.  He just does not like the ridiculous ideas of beauty that have been presented to and about women in many other poems during this time.  The ideas behind this poem are also very relevant in our society today.  The ideal of beauty that is presented in today’s movies, magazines, and other media is very similar to what is described in this poem.  These unrealistic ideas affect our perception of what is beautiful in today’s society in much the same way that the ideas used in these poems affected the perception of what was beautiful during Shakespeare’s time.