“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.” – Kahlil Gibran. I will compare and contrast “Sonnet 130,” by William Shakespeare and “The Harlem Dancer,” by Claude McKay. Both the poems and sonnets are English and have fourteen lines or stanzas and the rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG, which emphasizes beauty in women. A sonnet is a fixed-pattern poem that expresses a single, complete thought or idea. Sonetto comes from the Italian word “sonetto,” which means “little song.” Poetry, on the other hand, is English writing that has figurative language and written in separate lines that usually have a repeated rhyme, but not always. The main and interesting thing is that these two poems or sonnets admire and compare the beauty of a specific woman, with tone, repetition, imagery and sense of sound. “Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare was published in the mid-1590s and published with the rest of Shakespeare's sonnets in 1609. The sonnet has fourteen lines and divided into three quatrains and a couplet at the end. The rhyme scheme is crisscrossed, with the last two lines being rhyming couplets. The sonnet draws a comparison between nature and the poets' lover or lover. She shows a more realistic view of her lover. Needless to say, his significant other was not physically attractive, yet he loved her inner beauty. Today we could use the expression “It's not just a question of how it looks, but what's inside”. The speaker uses metaphors to describe his lover's eyes as the sun; his lips are red like coral; cheeks like roses; her breasts white as snow; and his voices sound like music. In the first lines of the sonnet, the speaker sees and talks about his lover as ugly, as if he is not attracted to her. He gives......half a paper...reads and all. Harlem dancer McKay sets the scene and admires the beauty of a prostitute as she puts on a show for the crowd, even though she knows she's hiding her true feelings with smiles. Both views on women are rare thoughts, as other people usually don't see the way these two poets illustrate. Beauty is not having a pretty face. It's about having a beautiful mind, a beautiful heart, and most importantly, a beautiful soul. Works Cited Collier, Eugenia, Cary Nelson et al. NP Network. 21 February 2014. .Mabillard, A.. Np. Network. 21 February 2014. .Verlinken, . NP Network. 21 February 2014. .