Booth, Stephen, An Essay on Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1969). Excellent close reading. See also the extraordinarily (excessively?) rich annotation in Booth’s Yale edition of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1977).
Dubrow, Heather, Captive Victors: Shakespeare’s Narrative Poems and Sonnets (1987). Very good on oxymoronic language.
Edmondson, Paul, and Stanley Wells, Shakespeare’s Sonnets (2004). Sane introductory study.
Empson, William, numerous passages in Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930) and an essay on Sonnet 94 (“They that have power to hurt”) in Some Versions of Pastoral (1935). Unsurpassed as readings of the sonnets.
Fineman, Joel, Shakespeare’s Perjured Eye: the Invention of Poetic Subjectivity in the Sonnets (1986). Dense and challenging theoretical study, strongly influenced by the psychoanalytic theory of Jacques Lacan.
Hammond, Paul, Figuring Sex between Men from Shakespeare to Rochester (2002). Thoughtful readings of a cross section of poets.
Keach, William, Elizabethan Erotic Narratives: Irony and Pathos in the Ovidian Poetry of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Their Contemporaries (1977). Equally good on both Shakespeare and his poetic contemporaries.
Kerrigan, John, Motives of Woe: Shakespeare and “Female Complaint” (1991). Critical anthology placing “A Lover’s Complaint” in its tradition.
Smith, Bruce, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare’s England (1991). Valuable context, especially good on Barnfield’s “Ganymede” poems.
Vendler, Helen, The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets (1997). An edition with rich commentary.
Vickers, Brian, Shakespeare, “A Lover’s Complaint” and John Davies of Hereford (2007). The powerful case against Shakespeare’s authorship of the “Complaint.” But see also Macdonald P. Jackson’s response in Review of English Studies, September 2007.
Vickers, Nancy, “‘The blazon of sweet beauty’s best’: Shakespeare’s Lucrece,” in Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, ed. Patricia Parker and Geoffrey Hartman (1985), pp. 95–115. Strong feminist reading.
Wilde, Oscar, The Portrait of Mr. W. H., in Complete Short Fiction, ed. Ian Small (1995). Brilliantly provocative fantasy.
THE MODERN LIBRARY EDITORIAL BOARD
Maya Angelou
•
A. S. Byatt
•
Caleb Carr
•
Christopher Cerf
•
Harold Evans
•
Charles Frazier
•
Vartan Gregorian
•
Jessica Hagedorn
•
Richard Howard
•
Charles Johnson
•
Jon Krakauer
•
Edmund Morris
•
Azar Nafisi
•
Joyce Carol Oates
•
Elaine Pagels
•
John Richardson
•
Salman Rushdie
•
Oliver Sacks
•
Carolyn See
•
Gore Vidal
Copyright © 2007, 2009 by The Royal Shakespeare Company
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
“Royal Shakespeare Company,” “RSC,” and the RSC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of The Royal Shakespeare Company.
The versions of the sonnets and other poems and the corresponding footnotes that appear in this volume were originally published in William Shakespeare Complete Works, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, published in 2007 by Modern Library, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.
eISBN: 978-1-58836-835-5
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v3.0
Vilia … aqua “Let the rabble admire worthless things, / May golden Apollo supply me with cups full of water from the Castalian spring” (from Ovid, Amores 1.15.35–6; Apollo is the sun god, and the Castalian spring on Mount Parnassus was sacred to him and to the Muses)
HENRY WRIOTHESLEY poets commonly sought noble patrons for their work; the Earl of Southampton was nineteen in 1593 when the poem was published
idle hours a conventionally modest disclaimer, but may refer to the closure of the theaters due to an outbreak of plague
some graver labour Shakespeare may be thinking of The Rape of Lucrece, published the following year and also dedicated to Wriothesley
graver more important, substantial
first … invention i.e. first published work/first poetic work (deemed more literary than a play)
ear plow
survey literary examination, evaluation
1 EVEN as just when/in the same way as
purple-coloured red (with connotations of regality or of the flush of dawn)
3 hied him hurried
chase hunt
5 Sick-thoughted lovesick
makes amain hastens
9 Stain to eclipsing, making tarnished (the beauty of)
nymphs beautiful young women/female spirits
lovely beautiful (usually used of a woman)
10 white and red i.e. in terms of complexion
12 Saith says
13 Vouchsafe deign, condescend
alight dismount from
14 proud splendid/high-spirited
saddle-bow the arched front of a saddle
15 meed reward
16 honey secrets sexual sweets (secrets has vaginal connotations)
19 satiety excess
24 wasted spent/diminished
sport sexual entertainment
25 sweating a moist, warm palm was thought to be a sign of an amorous, sexually vigorous nature
26 precedent … livelihood indicator of sexual vitality
27 balm soothing ointment
28 sovereign superlative/healing
29 enraged inflamed, ardent
30 Courageously boldly/lustfully
31 lusty lively/lustful
courser large powerful horse
32 tender youthful
34 leaden dull, inert (with phallic implications)
appetite sexual appetite, desire
unapt not inclined/not able
toy engage in sexual play
37 studded ornamented with studs, a sign of luxury
ragged rough
39 stallèd up confined, secured
40 prove try
41 would wished to
thrust penetrated sexually
42 governed … lust was stronger than him but unable to arouse him sexually
43 So … down she lay down beside him as soon as he was down
46 chide rebuke (her)
47 broken interrupted
50 maiden virginal/girlish
53 miss wrongdoing, misbehavior
55 empty unfed
sharp by fast made hungry by lack of food
56 Tires pulls, tears
58 gorge crop, gullet in which partially digested food is stored
61 content please/be content
63 pray prayer (puns on “prey”)
66 distilling falling in minute drops
69 awed awestruck, terrified
fret annoyed, vexed
71 rank full
72 Perforce of necessity
73 prettily ingeniously/coaxingly (sense then shifts to “attractive”)
75 lours frowns, looks angry
76 ’Twixt between
79 Look … can however he looks
81 remove withdraw (from a siege)
82 contending striving, antagonistic
84 countless numberless/infinitely valuable
86 dive-dapper dabchick, a small diving waterfowl
90 winks shuts his eyes/winces
91 pass
enger traveler on foot
92 turn favor (plays on sense of “sexual act”)
94 bathes in water i.e. weeps
96 coy shy/reserved/disdainful
98 god of war i.e. Mars, with whom Venus had an adulterous affair
99 sinewy muscular
bow acknowledge defeat
100 jar fight
104 uncontrollèd unconquered
crest feathers on the top of a helmet
105 sport … dally all terms that can also signify “have sex”
107 churlish harsh, because it signifies war; red suggests blood and anger, but in line 110 the color signifies passion
ensign battle flag
108 arms plays on sense of “weapons”
field battlefield
109 overswayed ruled, exercised power over
111 Strong-tempered made strong by tempering (heating steel and then immersing it in cold water)
his … obeyed submitted to his superior strength
114 foiled defeated
119 there … lies i.e. reflected in the pupils of her eyes
121 wink close your eyes
123 keeps his revels holds his festivities/has sex (the erotic sense continues in play and sport)
but twain only two
124 bold courageous/sexually immodest
in sight observed
125 blue-veined suggestive of closed eyes (and perhaps with connotations of the erect penis)
127 tender spring youthful growth (of stubble)
133 hard-favoured harsh-featured
foul ugly
134 Ill-nurtured coarse, ill-bred
crooked deformed
135 O’erworn worn out by age or work
rheumatic afflicted by catarrh or by the watering eyes of old age
cold afflicted by a cold/dispirited/sexually passionless
136 Thick-sighted poor-sighted
juice vigor/vaginal moisture
140 grey regarded as a particularly beautiful eye color
142 marrow vitality/sexual essence
146 trip dance lightly
147 nymph female spirit who lived in the sea
148 footing footprint
149 spirit may play on sense of “penis”
compact composed
150 gross heavy, earthy
light may play on sense of “unchaste, lustful”
aspire rise/be ambitious/grow erect
152 forceless powerless
154 list please, choose
155 light unimportant/weightless/ unchaste
156 heavy serious/troublesome/weighty
157 affected in love
158 upon thy left i.e. by grasping your left hand
160 on of
161 Narcissus in Greek mythology, a beautiful young man who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool; in some versions of the tale he drowned attempting to embrace himself
himself himself forsook abandoned himself (for himself)
162 shadow reflection
164 Dainties delicacies, sweetmeats
the use enjoyment/sex
165 sappy sap-filled
bear bear fruit
168 get beget, reproduce
169 increase produce
172 That thine so that your offspring
175 this this time, now
177 Titan another name for the Greek sun god
tirèd weary/dressed, attired
178 burning … hotly i.e. hotly/lasciviously
179 his team i.e. Titan’s team of horses that drew the sun’s chariot
180 So … him provided that Titan could be like Adonis
181 lazy sprite sluggish spirit
182 disliking disapproving, reluctant
183 fair sight beautiful eyes/handsome appearance
184 vapours clouds or noxious fogs rising from the ground
185 Souring contracting, pursing
188 bare poor, unconvincing
197 done ended
198 heavenly … sun the sun in the sky and Adonis himself
202 want lack/desire
203 thy mother Adonis was the incestuous product of his mother Myrrha’s love for her own father
204 unkind cruel/unnatural
205 contemn disdain, scorn
this thus
206 suit request/courtship
213 Statue Adonis was a descendant of Pygmalion and the statue he had made, fallen in love with, and married after she had been brought to life by Aphrodite/ Venus
215 complexion appearance
216 by … direction of their own accord
219 blaze forth proclaim/burn forth
220 Being … cause i.e. even though she is the goddess of love and supreme judge of amorous affairs, she cannot determine matters in her own favor
221 fain willingly
222 intendments intentions
226 would wants to (bind him)
228 locks … one intertwines her fingers (so that he cannot escape her embrace)
229 Fondling foolish one/one who is doted upon
230 ivory pale i.e. fair-skinned arms encircling him (a pale is a fence; plays on sense of “white”)
231 park enclosed tract of land reserved for keeping and hunting game
deer puns on “dear”
232 mountain … dale i.e. breasts and vagina (replete with pleasure-giving fountains)
235 limit area defined by a boundary
relief feeding, pasturing (hunting term)/sexual ease
236 bottom-grass lush grass growing at the base of the valley/pubic hair (bottom signifies “lower regions,” not “buttocks/anus,” a sense not then in use)
plain i.e. stomach (possibly pubic mound)
237 hillocks i.e. buttocks (possibly breasts)
brakes thickets, i.e. pubic hair
obscure hidden, secret/dark
240 rouse cause to issue forth from cover (hunting term); Adonis will instead be “roused” sexually by Venus
243 if so that if he
247 caves … pits i.e. dimples
249 wits sanity
250 Struck … first having already been smitten by love
251 in … forlorn helpless and wretched under your own rules/unable to control your own area of authority
257 remorse pity, compassion
259 neighbours by is nearby
260 breeding in heat
jennet small Spanish horse
lusty lively/lustful
proud spirited/sexually aroused
261 trampling courser stallion stamping on the ground
264 straight directly/immediately
266 girths straps that hold the saddle in place
267 bearing carrying his weight/enduring his injuries/fertile
272 compassed crest arched ridge of the neck
275 glisters sparkles, glitters
276 courage disposition/sexual desire
277 told counted
278 gentle noble/calm
279 Anon shortly
curvets springs, frisks
280 As who should like one who might
tried proven
283 recketh he cares he for
stir fuss, agitation
284 flattering coaxing, wheedling
Holla stop (used to a horse)
285 curb restraining strap passing under the horse’s jaw and fastened to the bit
286 caparisons decorated saddle cloths
trappings gay colorful ornamental coverings
290 limning out painting
294 bone frame
295 fetlocks the tufts of hair growing on parts of horses’ ankle joints
shag rough, shaggy
297 crest ridge of the neck
passing surpassingly, exceedingly
301 scuds darts nimbly
303 bid … base challenge the wind to a chase (from the children’s game in which two teams occupy separate bases and chase opponents trying to leave their base)
304 where possibly a contraction of “wheth
er”
306 who which
310 puts … strangeness makes a show of aloofness
unkind cruel/ unaffectionate, not sexually interested
311 Spurns at kicks out at/rejects
312 kind embracements affectionate embraces (i.e. as the stallion mounts her for sex)
heels mares often kick out as they’re mounted
314 vails lowers in submission
tail probably with phallic connotations
plume feathers (here probably imagined in a military helmet)
316 fume anger
319 testy irritated
320 unbacked unbroken/riderless
breeder mare in heat
321 Jealous of catching fearful of being caught
forsake abandon
323 As as if
wood wordplay, since it could also mean “mad”
hie them hasten
325 swoll’n with chafing bursting with anger
326 Banning cursing
327 happy … fits moment is opportune again
328 lovesick love i.e. Venus
330 aidance assistance
331 stopped stopped up, closed
stayed dammed up
333 So likewise
334 vent uttering
335 attorney i.e. the tongue
336 client i.e. heart
breaks may play on sense of “goes bankrupt”
as i.e. being
suit lawsuit/courtship
339 bonnet hat
341 nigh near
342 all … eye he watches her out of the corner of his eye/he watches her mistrustfully
343 wistly intently
344 wayward willful, obstinate
347 But just
349 just before right in front of
351 heaveth lifts
354 apt receptively
dint impression
356 suing pressing their case
357 as as though
his its
359 dumb play theatrical dumb show, mime
made plain explained
360 chorus-like like characters commenting on the action of a play or dumb show
361 Full very
362 prisoned imprisoned
jail Shakespeare’s spelling “gaile” may pun on “gale”
363 band bond, shackle
364 engirts surrounds
365 wilful willing/persistent/ desirous
366 a-billing caressing one beak with the other
367 engine instrument, i.e. tongue
368 mover one in motion, i.e. mortal
mortal round earth
369 Would thou wert I wish you were
370 wound i.e. profoundly wounded heart
371 thy … thee I would assure you of my help