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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help


Publication of the Sonnets (igore previous post, which failed)

You wrote:

<< Sh[akespeare] never sought to publish the sonnets >>

The Sonnets were published anonymously. The only identificating marks
to appear on the title page are "Mr. W.H." and "T.T."
T.T. was Thomas Thorpe, the published. No one knows who
"Mr. W.H." was. (There are guesses, of course.)

It was quite usual at the time to publish poetry
anonymously, or pseudonomously. Simply because Shakespeare's
name does not appear, does not mean that he was not
involved in the publication.

On the internal evidence, someone has taken great care in
arranging the sonnets in a precise sequence, someone of
great literary insight and susceptibilities, so that related
sonnets appear together, and so that the themes of the
individual sonnets develop in a precise and preconceived way.
Other evidence suggests that this sequence is not the same as
the chronological sequence of their original composition.

Who was this person of great literary insight and susceptibilities?
May I suggest the author?

Posted by Thersites on April 11, 1997 at 04:17:09
In Reply to "The sonnets are probably autobiographical" posted by Professor Mike on April 10, 1997 at 14:12:34


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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help