Time has seen an infinite amount of beauty in its long existence. Nature has
produced so many wonderful scenes and objects that we cannot collect it all even
in one life. We ourselves are keepers of such beauty and intrigue that poets and
other writers have captured our essence in prose. Whether it’s beauty that is
skin deep or the beauty of a face that makes you look twice, what attracts us is
not always what attracts your neighbor. Shakespeare’s, “My Mistress’ Eyes
Are Nothing Like the Sun,” and Lord Byron’s, “She Walks in Beauty,” are
the epitome of what men and women long for. Although different in their
interpretations of beauty, they hold true to the meaning of beauty, and the
meaning of love. In Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ Eyes are Nothing like the
Sun,” beauty is definitely only skin deep. Shakespeare’s description of his
love is an abomination to the quintessential woman every man lusts for. He
describes her as having, “black wires grow on her head” (Mistress line 4),
instead of the beautiful, long black hair that most men would die for.
Shakespeare also states, “I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music
hath far a more pleasing sound” (Mistress line 9-10). The subject in this
sonnet is well beyond grotesque, and her voice is to be thought as a plague on
the ears. However, what she has to say to him and the way she say’s, “I Love
You” is like music in Shakespeare’s ears and his heart. No matter how
unattractive she is to him or to anyone else, only he knows her true beauty, and
that lies deep inside her. Beauty is not just a word, nor is it just an
appearance to Shakespeare in this sonnet. Beauty is something that has already
been achieved by someone who is looking desperately to find it - that someone
being the woman. She seems like someone who Shakespeare is quite close to and
not just some tramp he pulled off the street. To be able to write about someone
in this way, one would have to know the inner thoughts and feelings of that
someone. Shakespeare, although in an odd fashion, poured her emotions, as well
as his own, into this paradoxical description of what love should be. To
Shakespeare, what you see is not always what you want, but what you know could
be all you ever hoped for. One of the most beautiful love poems ever written,
“She Walks in Beauty,” is a drawn out description of beauty and the love of
such beauty. Lord Byron describes this angelic creature as innocent, decisive,
and perfect in every way, shape and form. He does not say, however, that he
loves her. If there is any hint of love at all, it is for her outside appearance
to the world. This could have been a gentle stranger he saw sitting in a tavern,
or just someone he had made up. At any rate, Lord Byron’s depiction of this
mysterious woman is one of great admiration and lust. The reader does not learn
any more of her, nothing about her personality or her wit. Byron tends to skip
these rather skeptical details perhaps because she was a horrible person. She
may have been stuck up and snobby, and may have let no man near her that
didn’t have enough money to support her. Then again, she may have been the
local prostitute whose morals were as low as her profession. However one would
look at her, however one would want to describe her, she was “so soft, so
calm, yet eloquent” (Beauty line 14) and “,,,all that’s best of dark and
bright” (Beauty line 3). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, to coin the
well over-used phrase. William Shakespeare and Lord Byron, two of the most
renowned poets of all time, both held beauty at high standards. Although
different, both authors expressed a great love for what one can see and for what
one can know. For Byron, it seemed that what you see is what you get. That
beauty is a woman who can turn the head of every man as she walks down a street,
or a woman who can make time stand still when she enters a room. Byron’s
fantasy was every man’s fantasy, and his words drew a picture of radiance and
perfection. For Shakespeare, on the other hand, what you see isn’t what you
get, but what you know is more than you could ever hope for. A perfect woman in
every way but her appearance. His words drew an abstract picture of beauty, but
if one looked close enough one would see that beauty doesn’t always have to
lay with perfection. Everyone today is so wrapped up in what is beautiful and
what is supposed to be the “ideal” woman, that no one stops to look at the
real person behind such beauty or behind such repugnance. It isn’t always
about what looks best, who looks best, or who looks best with who. It’s about
understanding, it’s about Love. To love someone for who they’re not is
simply a waste, but to love someone for who they are, now that is perfection.