Sonnet 130, Shakespeare:

I felt like I really understood this poem, surprisingly. I haven't done so well on the other ones. What's funny is, when I'm reading the poems, I feel like I understand it completely. Then, when I get to the questions my brain's like, *explosion*. I hate them! This poem I actually understood and I got most of the questions right. YAY! It's funny, Shakespeare is so mean, but it's the sweetest thing ever. This poem reminded me of the difficulty I had with Mr. Feldman's satire unit. We read Slaughterhouse 5, which I was fine with, but when it came to writing a satire I was done....DONE. It was so hard. I realize now, that I was thinking about it too much, and trying to exaggerate and be as hyperbolic as possible. That isn't always the case, though. This sonnet is a satire, and while reading it I knew that, but it's not just an exaggeration, it's a juxtaposition. He's satirizing the Petrarchan ideal by mirroring it with his opposite mistress. It was interesting that Shakespeare never talks about her inner beauty, but I guess he does. His last two lines must be about her inner beauty, because he tore apart her physical appearance. I found the questions to be very debatable. You could argue so much about pretty much every question.