My mistress' eyes

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare."
"My mistress' eyes"
William Shakespeare


The purpose of this poem is to mock other love poems that describe every detail of their lover. The speaker says that his lover doesn't have any characteristics associated with the traditional love poem; "[her] eyes are nothing like the sun," and he "love[s] to hear her speak, yet know[s] That music hath a far more pleasing sound." He bashes all of her qualities and says everything that she is not. This poem aims to give a different perspective on love; He doesn't love her solely because of her beautiful characteristics and perfect hair, eyes, cheeks, lips, etc. Towards the end-the shift at line 13- we see the speaker's true feelings toward his lover.  In the above quote, he is stating that he is able to accept all of her despite her imperfections; He doesn't feel the need to cover up or sugar coat anything about his lover--he is honest throughout and he loves her and is able to look beyond all of the defects, because no one else can even compare.