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SONNET 127In the old age black was not counted fair,Or if it were, it bore not beauty's name; But now is black beauty's successive heir, And beauty slander'd with a bastard shame: For since each hand hath put on nature's power, Fairing the foul with art's false borrow'd face, Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower, But is profan'd, if not lives in disgrace. Therefore my mistress' brows are raven black, Her eyes so suited; and they mourners seem At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack, Slandering creation with a false esteem: Yet so they mourn, becoming of their woe, That every tongue says, beauty should look so. NOTES CXXVII. This Sonnet is the first of the second series, a series concerned mainly with the poet's dark mistress. The Sonnet treats of the degeneracy of the times with regard to beauty. Black hair and a dark complexion were not formerly considered beautiful. And, besides, artificial beauty had usurped the place of Nature. It was suitable, therefore, after all, that the eyes of the poet's mistress should be black, as mourning over such a state of things; and they make black itself beautiful. This Sonnet should be compared with the passage in Love's Labour's Lost, Act iv. sc. 3, beginning, "Is ebony like her? O wood divine." Compare also Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (vii.): "When Nature made her chiefe worke, Stella's eyes,3. Beauty's successive heir. Has gained the esteem formerly devoted to beauty. The "successive heir" is the heir who succeeds, and obtains the inheritance. 4. And beauty slander'd with a bastard shame. The "bastard shame" is the product of art. Beauty and Nature are slandered by the artificial asserting in effect that Art is better than Nature. 5. Hath put on Nature's power. It being Nature's prerogative to give beauty. 7. Natural beauty has no exclusive name, no sanctuary all her own. Q., "no holy boure." 10. Suited. The sense of "clothed" which has been given to the word here is questionable. 12. Slandering creation, &c. See on line 4. How to cite this article: How to cite the sidebars:______ Even More...  Stratford School Days: What Did Shakespeare Read? Games in Shakespeare's England [A-L] Games in Shakespeare's England [M-Z] An Elizabethan Christmas Clothing in Elizabethan England Queen Elizabeth: Shakespeare's Patron King James I of England: Shakespeare's Patron The Earl of Southampton: Shakespeare's Patron Going to a Play in Elizabethan London Ben Jonson and the Decline of the Drama Publishing in Elizabethan England Shakespeare's Audience Religion in Shakespeare's England Alchemy and Astrology in Shakespeare's Day Entertainment in Elizabethan England London's First Public Playhouse Shakespeare Hits the Big Time
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