In 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 slandered with a bastard shame:
For since each hand hath put on Nature’s power,
Fairing the foul with Art’s false borrowed face,
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower,
But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my mistress’ eyes are raven black,
Her eyes so suited, and they mourners seem
At such who, not born fair, no beauty lack,
Sland’ring creation with a false esteem:
Yet so they mourn becoming of their woe,
That every tongue says beauty should look so.
Sonnet 127: Translation to modern English
In ancient times a dark complexion wasn’t considered beautiful, or if anyone thought so they never said it. But now being dark is legitimately beautiful and it’s become less legitimate to call being fair-skinned beautiful in itself because these days anyone can take on the power that used to belong only to nature, and even unattractive people can make themselves beautiful with makeup. True beauty doesn’t exist anymore, has no special place: it has become devalued, even disgraced. And so, my mistress’ eyes are raven black – well suited to current fashion – seeming to be in mourning for those who are not naturally beautiful but insult nature by making themselves beautiful. But her eyes are so beautiful in their sadness that everyone is saying that that’s how beauty should look.
i like that sonnet
Plzz explain in hindi of sonnet no. 127
Sonnet 127 is out and out a reality expressed by the Bard of Avon. This reality in the Second half of 16th and the First Half 17th Centuries might be in negligible proportion, as the writers bring out the reality from the minutest fact, but the Sonnet depicts the present scenario in terms of beauty as vivid as it must be to present the case. It (S 127) makes it crystal clear that this Elizabethan Era poet was also a distinguished fore-teller, at least on beauty.
let’s not misinterpret this sonnet as if it were a racist statement against dark complexions
I believe it’s nothing of the sort – expand one’s thinking and think of the word ‘black’ to denote the actual lack of color becoming fashionable – e.g. in our present time we can point to black and grey being so popular as a color for cars, clothing and home interiors
and so in becoming fashionable, it is mistakenly equated as being beautiful – as if all the trees and flowers in nature should suddenly turned grey and black, we would all say “hooray, another kind of wonderful beauty to behold”