Question

Can I get help with this humor device?

The lines “My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; / Coral is far more red than her lips' red; / If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
/ If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head” employ a humor device. Identify the device used and discuss its effect on the meaning and tone of the poem.

Answer 1

Metaphor,Hyperbole,and imagery

Step-by-step explanation:

For example, Shakespeare exaggerates the mistress’ beauty by insulting her using ordinary objects and contrasting her beauty to objects in nature. Imagery is used to make the readers perceive things with their five senses. For example, “If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head. I have seen roses damasked, red and white.”

Answer 2

The humor device used here is satire. When using this as a humor device, the narrator mocks someone or something. The lines used are not telling the beauty of the mistress and the speaker of the poem insults her looks. This may be a love poem and shows that the narrator loves the described woman no matter what she looks like.