Sonnet 130

            
             According to Constance Jordan and Clare Carrol, "English colonists" traveling "to the New World carried with them an English Bible and if they owned a secular" work of literature it was more than likely the "works of Shakespeare" (549). Shakespeare was not only a literature icon in his historical period but is an icon in the 21st century. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets celebrating Shakespeare's love for a young man, his rivalry with another poet and his troubled relationship with a woman who was known as "the dark lady." The first fourteen sonnets encourage a young man to get married and have a family. Beginning with sonnet twenty starts a long sequence of sonnets dealing with Shakespeare and having a lover of the opposite sex. Sonnet seventy-eight and beyond deals with Shakespeare's rival poet stealing his ideas and the final twenty-eight sonnets focus on "the dark lady"(552). Sonnet 130 is one of the final twenty-eight that deals with "the dark lady" whoever she may be. Shakespeare's reason for writing sonnet 130 seems to be that he is making his audience recognize that beauty can be found in anyone, not just those that possess outer beauty qualities. The woman in the poem does not have the most mesmerizing eyes, the reddest lips, nor soft flowing hair or rosy cheeks. She does not smell the prettiest or have the best smelling breath or a soft soothing speaking voice. However, this woman is a very rare creature whom Shakespeare finds most appealing. The "dark lady" has set new standards on what true beauty exemplifies.
             The speaker Shakespeare uses in sonnet 130 is "I." He uses himself as the speaker to express this sonnet. The setting of sonnet 130 is open to the reader's interpretation. No specific setting is indicated. The setting of sonnet 130 could be many places. For instance, Shakespeare could have been writing this sonnet in his bedroom reflecting on this woman. He also could have been chatting with a friend about her or maybe even writing in his diary of a time when he met this very unique woman.