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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help
You're right, we don't know, and quite obviously some of
the sonnets ARE out of sequence, eg 42 and 134 go naturally
with the 140s. But it's not hard to see (isn't it?) that
the "rival poet" sonnets (83-87) make a group, the heart-broken
sonnets (146-152) make a group, 1-17 make a group,135 and 136 go
together, etc.So even if we had the collection totally scattered, it would
be a legitimate act of interpretation and analysis to gather
like with like, arguing on the basis of internal coherency
for a particular patterning. For example, poem VII of The
Passionate Pilgrim seems to be of the same time as sonnets
146-152, and who can fail to relate poems IV and XI to Venus
and Adonis? They're about Venus and Adonis.After all, how do we KNOW FOR SURE that the order of words in
each sonnet was what the poet intended? Do you have the original
MSS in the author's own hand, do you? DO YOU? Maybe T.T. jumbled
the words up (which actually he did, in some cases). Maybe they
were written by a thousand monkeys randomly. After all, HOW DO WE
KNOW FOR SURE? Maybe they were after all written by spacemen.There comes a point when this stupid agnosticism has to stop
and we, that is you, take a serious stand on the AVAILABLE
evidence. Are you willing to do so, or is it just going to be
an endless orgy of intellectual self-gratification? If so,
fine, and I hope you have fun with the other 13 year olds,
but at least let the grown-ups have their adult conversation.Posted by Professor Mike on April 17, 1997 at 10:29:17
In Reply to "Once again, your analysis breaks down when confronted with reality." posted by Reality Chuck on April 17, 1997 at 07:52:24
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 4.2.97: Top | Help