My mistress' eyes

The several tones of this poem are very interesting.  It starts out with having a tone of disappointment with his mistress.  He compares how his girl's eyes are "nothing like the sun."  "Coral is far more red than her lips' red."  "In some perfumes is there more delight then in the breath that from my mistress reeks."  "Music hath a far more pleasing sound" than his lover's voice.  These are all examples of how he is basically pointing out all of her flaws.  Then, he shifts the tone in the last two lines to how glorious and rare she is.  The poem ends with "I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare."  I think it is ironic that he does this as he kind of contradicts himself in the same poem.  By doing this, Shakespeare has a great deal of effect on the poem and its meaning.  He wanted to show how the flaws of his "mistress" do not even compare to the rarity that she possesses.