To His Coy Mistress- Tone

Shifting tones is the key to understanding and appreciating Shakespeare's My mistress' eyes. Most girls enjoy being complimented and compared to things that our world has deemed as beautiful. Well, Shakespeare throws a twist at the norm, and decides to describe everything that the woman he loves is not. Even better, he is saying that no part of her is comparable to any beautiful object. Well, this could easily be taken as insulting, but a shift in tone at line 13 marks that everything he previously mentioned is all for a greater purpose. "And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare as any she belied with false compare," (Shakespeare 885, Line 13-14). Everything he previously mentioned was all for a greater purpose. He is able to convey that their love is rare and amazing, and he adores her because of these "imperfections". He would not be being honest if he compared her to "coral", "snow", or "roses". He just loves her for what she is, which is perfectly herself- someone he is clearly crazy about.