The mistress' breath in Sonnet 130 is likened to what?

Answer 1

The relevant lines say:

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

Though the word "reeks" suggests an unpleasant smell in modern English, it usually did not in Shakespeare's time. He used it to mean "exudes" or "emanates". Here, then, he is likening the mistress' breath to a scent - one which is less delightful than some, but is not necessarily unpleasant.

Answer 2

The mistress' breath in Sonnet 130 is likened to perfume in the opening line: "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."

Answer 3

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.

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.

Answer 4

Ugly but loved.