"My Mistress' Eyes"-William Shakespeare

"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare 
As any she belied with false compare" (Shakespeare, 885).

Here, the speaker in Shakespeare appears to be claiming that the poets who describe their lover as perfect are liars.  Shakespeare presents the speaker as a realist.  The first twelve lines would be offensive to any woman who was the recipient of the poem.  Yet, the idea the speaker presents is not hard to accept; it is common sense that no one is perfect.  The speaker chooses to say this through accuses other men of lying.  The speaker switches the tone in line thirteen.  He declares even though his mistress is not perfect, she is just as rare as any other woman who was compared to perfection.  The speaker furthers this argument by referring to such comparisons as "false."  He points out the realistic idea that women cannot be perfect and presenting them as so is deceptive to the woman and to other women of society who now feel they must be the same.  In the simplest terms, the speaker is saying even though his mistress is not perfect, their love is just as good as anyone else's, and he is not lying like many others are.