Who wrote the poem 'Sonnet 130'?

Who wrote the poem “Sonnet 130”? William Shakespeare wrote it. Published in 1609 as part of Shakespeare’s collection of 154 sonnets, it playfully challenges the exaggerated praise common in traditional love poetry.

Instead of comparing his mistress with flawless roses, bright suns, or precious jewels, Shakespeare’s speaker makes deliberately unflattering comparisons. Her eyes are not like the sun, her lips are not as red as coral, and her hair is compared to black wires. These images can sound insulting when isolated, but the poem’s final couplet reveals its purpose: the speaker’s love is genuine precisely because it does not depend on extravagant, unrealistic descriptions.

“Sonnet 130” is therefore both a love poem and a satire of conventional courtly language. It mocks the clichés associated with Petrarchan poetry while affirming sincere affection. Structurally, it is an English or Shakespearean sonnet: three quatrains followed by a rhyming couplet. The poem is sometimes reduced to a joke about the mistress’s appearance, overlooking its defense of honest love.