Sonnet 130
This sonnet pretty much ridicules the conventions of beauty. Throughout this poem, the poet describes his lover. Look at how he does that. He pretty much says that she doesn't meet any of the conventional standards of beauty.
Now, what exactly are the standards of beauty? Isn't beauty in the eyes of the beholder? That's how it's supposed to be. People have different tastes and they find different things beautiful. Now, Shakespeare didn't mean it this way, but when I read the poem, I felt like a woman has to have all these things to be considered beautiful. That's what we are told as we grow up. A woman has to look a certain way to be considered beautiful - and, let's face it, every woman wants to be called beautiful.
The thing is, these things are out of our control. She can't control the way she looks. The only things she can do are pile on loads of makeup to look pretty, or starve herself to lose weight, or hide her body and face because she isn't conventionally beautiful. After all that, she is scared that if someone sees the real her, they are going to leave her. She never feels like she is beautiful enough... there's always someone more beautiful than her.
The last lines of the poem talk about how the poet loves this woman, even though she is physically unattractive. It means that he loves her for her, not her looks. Every woman needs a man who'll say this to her. Someone who loves her for being herself... the raw and unflitered version of herself. That is really precious and in time, the woman will end up feeling like the most beautiful woman on the planet because there is one person who will always love her and only her. He will only have eyes for her.
This is my wish for all the beautiful women reading this. You will find someone who thinks you are perfect just the way you are. Once you find that, your worries and insecurities will disappear. Don't try to change who you are because people say things.
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