The Speaker

The speaker in the poem – who should not be over-identified with Shakespeare himself – is not clearly characterized, except by the language he uses. He is obviously clever, playful, and intelligent. The way he references, and satirizes, written work implies a familiarity with poetry, especially Petrarchan poetry that was popular among Shakespeare and his contemporaries. He is also something of an iconoclast, not hesitating to make light, or even to make fun, of the norms and ideals of his society.

The Mistress

The poem is dedicated to praising, or mocking, a "mistress" (1). This term does not mean that she is the poet's extramaratial affair partner, as the word "mistress" usually implies today, merely that she is a woman with whom he is in love, the "mistress of his heart" as Shakespeare writes in another poem. We do not know much about this woman's personality, but her appearance is...