My mistress' eyes

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

I thought this poem was so insulting when I first read it, but the last two lines dulled the sting of the insults. The speaker spends most of the poem going against many similes associated with one' love or a beautiful woman. His descriptions are ironic and seem very insulting. He says she does not compare to a rose, white snow, the sun, perfumes, music, or a goddess. I think what the speaker was trying to say was that his mistress may not be the most beautiful or perfect thing on this earth, but he thinks she is rare. He says those comparison are "false," and that they misrepresent her. Overall this poem was meant to be a compliment, but that was hard to identify throughout most of the poem. The tone was not as insulting as it originally seemed, and he really is paying respect to his mistress.