help finding poem

[poetrysearch]

I am looking for a poem which deals with vanity and peoples obsession with beauty. It is for a school project and I am at a loss as to where to look. Anything dealing with mirrors and reflections, could work as well. Thanks in advance.

[verybaddmom]

I don't know if this will be of any help, but many of Shakespeare's poems are concerning beauty, and especially the loss of beauty to aging, or love based on beauty.
to my mind, sonnet 73 deals with exactly that. this poem is a discussion about the worthiness of lovers as they age and become less attractive.
Also, sonnet 130 is pretty much an anti-petrarchan sonnet, where he basically says that all of the attributions that make a woman beautiful (according to other elizabethan sonneteers) are not worth a hoot; his mistress is not pale white with ruby lips, and she smells kind of funny, but his love for her is as real as she is.
this reflects back to your question regarding people's obsession with vanity. the tendency was to glorify women's beauty and make the ideals unnatainable (ever met a woman with snow white skin, or eyes bright like the sun?).
and really has this changed? are current ideals any easier to attain?

oops, changing the subject...sorry!
oh and btw, welcome :)

[piquant]

There's another sonnet by shakespeare where two lovers discover that they've both been lying to each other about age and other superficial things. It puns on lie the whole poem. I don't remember the number, but I could probably find it.