The majority of the poem gives negative connotations. The sun, red coral, snow, roses, perfumes, music, and a goddess all bring to mind beautiful images, but the speaker's mistress' eyes, lips, breasts, cheeks, breath, voice, and walk are all contrasted with the descriptions of loveliness. Her eyes do not shine, her lips are not red, her breasts are not white, her cheeks are pale, her breath stinks, she does not have a pleasant voice, and she does walk gracefully as a goddess would. The speaker seems to be viewing his mistress disdainfully, as if he is not attracted to her, and after reading the first twelve lines, a sense of indignation and perhaps sorrow for this woman who is so ugly that not even her lover describes her as being pretty is felt (141). The images serve to make the sonnet come to life because the readers can "see" the comparisons through the use of descriptive words.
             However, in the last two lines of the poem, which are indented for the purpose of standing out, recognizing the change in attitude, and showing the point of the poem, the speaker proclaims that his love is "as rare/As any she belied with false compare" (141). Even though the speaker has just brought attention to the many shortcomings of his love, he not only loves her, but he loves her and thinks more highly of her than any woman who has ever been described favorably by the previously mentioned qualities. Also, the word false suggests that the women who have been described in terms such as their eyes shining like the sun have not been accurately described (141). No woman's body parts really look like the beautiful images that have been described, so the speaker is being truthful rather than using the flowery language common during Shakespeare's time. Also, beauty should not be the reason that one loves someone.
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