Download Piece - Trinity College London

Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes...
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564—1616) was a playwright, actor, theatre owner, and poet
from Stratford–upon–Avon, England. He wrote at least 38 plays, some in collaboration
with others, poems such as ‘Venus & Adonis’, ‘The Phoenix & the Turtle’, ‘A Lover’s
Complaint’, and ‘The Rape of Lucrece’ as well as a collection of 154 Sonnets. They were
published in 1609 but were probably written much earlier.
A sonnet (which literally means ‘little song’) is a poem composed of three quatrains
and a terminal couplet in iambic pentameter with the rhyme pattern abab cdcd efef gg.
Each sonnet tells a story from a character’s point of view and are excellent short
acting pieces.
There are many thousands of websites devoted to Shakespeare.
The complete plays are available online at, among other places:
www.eamesharlan.org/tptt/index.html (Also known as ‘The Play’s the Thing: complete
plays of William Shakespeare’)
A basic overview of Shakespeare and his work can be found at:
www.globe-theatre.org.uk
The Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London both
have very active Education Departments. Their website addresses are:
www.rsc.org.uk
www.shakespeares-globe.org
A good website devoted to Shakespeare’s Sonnets (where you can read them all) is:
www.shakespeares-sonnets.com