Reservation Love Song

“Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” by William Shakespeare (1609)

Similar to how Sherman Alexie satirizes the “love song” in “Reservation Love Song,” William Shakespeare pokes fun at the love sonnet in “Sonnet 130.” Both poems reject grandeur and favor the crude. Shakespeare’s speaker says their “mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” (Line 1). They compare her hair to “wires” (Line 4) and say that her breath “reeks” (Line 8). As with “Reservation Love Song,” “Sonnet 130” has an ironic, tongue-in-cheek tone that, by the end, turns sincere. In “Reservation Love Song,” the grandma brings true tenderness. By the end of the sonnet, the speaker admits their love for their mistress is “rare” (Line 13).

“The Day Lady Died” by Frank O’Hara (1964)

Scholars often cite Frank O’Hara as a solid early example of Postmodernism. Much of O’Hara’s poetry is playful, individualistic, and inclined to bring together the supposed highbrow and lowbrow aspects of culture. In “The Day Lady Died,” O’Hara references many people, places, and things, like the New York Post and the Ziegfeld Theatre. The references are also representative of Postmodernism as Postmodernists tend to focus on images and symbols and approach these symbols from a subjective standpoint.