William Shakespeare's "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun"

I remember reading "my mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" in high school and thinking that Shakespeare was being rude to his girlfriend, but upon reading it now I realize it is just the opposite. Shakespeare is not insulting his girlfriend's appearance (well he kind of is), but he is only doing so to express his love for her. He loves her through all her flaws, and he loves her because she is down to earth. He loves her because she is human. It is an unusual poem, but one that I enjoy in this new reading of it. If he had left off the last two lines the poem would of been kind of insulting, but the last to lines show how much he loves her "and yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare/as any she belied with false compare" (467). Shakespeare is basically stating that his girl does not compare to anyone else she is unique and he loves her because she is this way. It is really quite a beautiful deceleration of love.