Love is the universal principle, or motivation of an individual's activity. It generates the passions and desires that animate human life. This is a recurring theme in William Shakespeare's “My Mistress's Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun,” WH Auden's “Funeral Blues,” and Theodore Roethke's “My Daddy's Waltz.” These three poems present love in three different circumstances. Integrated by both dimensions, specifically in terms of eros and agape, and using elements of poetry such as similes, hyperbolic language, personification and symbolism, "My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun " highlights love despite social norms, "Funeral Blues" shows love despite death, while "My Papa's Waltz" focuses on love despite social norms and the death of one's ideal father . In “My Mistress' Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun,” Shakespeare uses negative similes to express eroticism. the love that society heavily emphasizes. Human beings are generally attracted to certain physical qualities of a person rather than their character. The term eros is used to describe the nature of love that places great emphasis on physical and sexual desires. As Kieran Bonner notes in his article, eros is “the offspring of need and ingenuity” (Bonner 123). It is a self-centered, acquisitive love that focuses on how the lover can satisfy a person's sexual and physical desires. Likewise, the sonnet indirectly highlights that society wants a man to choose his lover based on the woman's desirability. The poem begins with the lines: “My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun / Coral is much redder than the red of her lips” (1-2). This use of negative comparison in the preamble, by indirectly stating what the mistress lacks, draws attention...... middle of paper ......individuals.Works CitedAuden, WH "Funeral Blues" Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1102-1105. Print.Bonner, Kieran. "Eros and ironic intoxication: deep desire, madness and discipleship in Plato's symposium and in modern life." History of the human sciences 26.5 (2013): 114-31. EBSCO host. Web.Pope Benedict XVI. “Deus Caritas Est – Encyclical Letter, Benedict XVI.” Vatican: the Holy See. Vatican website. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005. Web. Roethke, Théodore. Literature “My Father’s Waltz”: reading fiction, poetry and theater. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1102-1105. Print.Shakespeare, William. Literature “My mistress's eyes are nothing like the sun”: reading fiction, poetry and theater. Ed. Robert DiYanni. 6th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. 1102-1105. Print.