second of the two rhyming lines an Alexandrine; and the monotony of this couplet is increased by the fact that it is usually a repetition or summary of the thought of the poem,' and if not this, it is epigrammatic, or too palpably an antistrophe or anti-climax. Still, it is needless to say that Shakespeare's hand struck from this somewhat imperfect instrument sounds that were both rich and new; their echoes indeed will roll through the ages.

(b) The Problem of the Sonnets

In planning his two poems, Shakespeare, as we have seen, was not unwilling to take hints from contemporary poets; but in writing the sonnets he followed still more closely a still more prevailing fashion of his time.2 Of this, which is the most important clue, we now proceed to avail ourselves more fully; and as on a former occasion, we apply to the poet himself for some first-hand information. And although the Sonnets abound in contradictions and enigmas, we shall find not a little that may guide us. In Sonnet LXXVI the poet expresses a kind of regret that he must

Write... still all one, ever the same,

And keep invention in a noted weed;

this means, primarily, “My verse lacks originality; yet I have a quiet style of my own, nothing new fangled about it, and everybody can recognize it"; but the words-as so often in Shakespeare-have a sense beyond the primary, to be thus interpreted, “Partly to feed my humour, partly

1 The theme of most of these sonnets of Shakespeare may be sought in the two closing lines; indeed, they often supply the place of the com

mentator.

2 See p. 82 for the thousands of sonnets that were manufactured during this last decade of the century. Even Bacon writes in 1600: "I had, though I profess not to be a poet, prepared a sonnet directly tending and alluding to draw on her majesty's reconcilement to my Lord."

3 Why does he write at all? why not produce some great poetic work? To all such questions Shakespeare himself supplies the answer.

to be one with my kind, I must write a long series of sonnets full of false notes, such as are now the exacting vogue." And by way of further motive he continues,

You and love are still my argument.

This is exactly what we should expect and what we want; for here primarily we have the meaning as follows: “The subjects of these conventional sonnets are three in number, viz., adulation, and its rivalries, friendship and its rivalries"; but remembering what we have said above concerning the second (or third) sense of a word in Shakespeare, we extend the meaning of the word "love beyond friendship, and add as the third subject, "sexual love and its rivalries."

These three, moreover, adulation, friendship, love, are the subjects of nearly all sonnets, whether of the time of Shakespeare or any other; but of course-unlike Spenser and Sidney-Shakespeare was married, and, in spite of the poetic and other conditions of those days, unless he addressed his wife, he could scarcely write of love with genuine passion; love, therefore, as he treats it, will be tinged with convention, if not wholly conventional; and the same may be said of his other subjects.1

Here, then, are two important facts; the sonnets of Shakespeare are at least to some extent conventional, artificial—a fashion; and in subject and sentiment they are personal or pseudo-personal, possibly effusive, perhaps insincere. But these two facts are closely related and may now be considered together.

The Middle Age habit of feigning in personal verse, especially the erotic, had by no means died out when Shakespeare wrote, though of course it had become greatly modified; the Elizabethan sonnet is partly real, though

1 In fact, the friendship of the sonnets is half of it classical, the intrigue is more than half romantic, and the personal element that remains is merely enough to lend an artistic verisimilitude.

2 Those of Spenser or Sidney for example; others like Shakespeare's

in greater part artificial. This tendency to become artificial may be noticed in other forms of poetry, the pastoral for instance; but in the sonnet it appeared almost at the outset, and a form of poetry which served admirably for unlocking the heart ended, as in Shakespeare, by more or less effectually locking it. But we must recall the word "ended;" for as the winter of artifice in pastoral verse was followed by a splendid spring, so reaction set in against the conventional sonnets, and in Milton the thing became a trumpet of no uncertain sound.

With Shakespeare, however, it was otherwise: he was not ignorant of the fact; and just as though a Euphuist (p. 105) he condemned Euphuism, so as a sonnet writer he almost despised sonneteering; he regrets that his "poor rude lines” have not kept pace with "the bettering of the time" (Sonnet XXXII), and that his "Muse" has not 'grown with this growing age" (XXXII); and in the plays we find many disparaging references to the practice of sonnet writing. "Assist me," says Armado in "Love's Labour's Lost” (I. ii. 190), “for I am sure I shall turn sonnet"; and in the same play (IV. iii. 158) Biron protests, "Tush, none but minstrels like of sonneting." Similar remarks will be found in "The Two Gentlemen of Verona"; indeed, Shakespeare seldom mentions the sonnet without some accent of contempt.

On the poet's showing, therefore, the sonnets of this period-his own included—are to be read with caution; but similar testimony is found in many other writers, in Thomas Watson, for example, and Sir Philip Sidney.

Even when they poured out a genuine passion, these sonnet makers loaded their language with conceits, and there was perpetual thought shuffling and word trifling;

and Daniel's, are yet more doubtful; Drummond's are more natural; others again, like those of Watson, are altogether artificial. The mediæval sonnet sequences, addressed to a fictitious mistress, extended their influence to sonnets devoted to patrons, friends, and the like.

and they often took pains to disguise their verse or its subject; like a dissolving view, the Rosalind of Spenser's dream-love passes into the "New Pandora" of his "Amoretti," and in this "pleasant mew" he merely "sports his muse"; and Sidney appears to have disarranged his sonnets in order to make them less autobiographical.

And in addition to what was said above on the subject, a reluctance to publish—or at least to print-this personal verse should again be noticed; the sonnets of Watson, Daniel, and Constable passed from hand to hand long before they were printed; the loves of Astrophel and Stella lay hidden in MS. for ten years;1 indeed the series was not published till after Sidney's death; and lastly, I must here remark on the words of Meres (p. 22) respecting Shakespeare: "his sugred Sonnets among his private friends,” where, as Meres intended, among may be variously taken; it may mean "circulated among" (in MS.), or "addressed to," or "dedicated to," or on the subject of," or submitted to for appreciation;" and it may mean -and does probably--something of all these.

66

To sum up therefore; these sonneteers, and Shakespeare among them, frequently set at naught the famous Look in thy heart and write" of Sir Philip Sidney; this rather is their motto-" Look in books; look at others; write exercises; or if you happen to write what is in your heart, write it in riddles; use the language of the sonnet to conceal your thoughts."

Indeed, I must now refer to what I have elsewhere called Shakespeare's "habit and practice of ambiguity as we find it in the dramas," where we learn that his dealings with language are often subtle beyond our subtlest interpretation; and there is no reason why he should not have hidden his very heart in sonnets conventional even to a purpose, a purpose that may have lurked deepest in their most

1 Thomas Newman, who printed them on his own account in 1591, stated in his dedication that they had been "spread abroad in written copies."

borrowed conceits, nay, in the varying notes struck at intervals from the same conceit. This then, as I think, is the problem of the sonnets; some were exercises; some were written in friendly rivalry;1 some rang changes on themes present to the poet in his other work; some were оссаsional" pieces; but many were either adapted or composed so that within their form of artifice they half revealed and half concealed a soul of intense reality. We now proceed with caution in our search among the sonnets themselves, where we may find illustrations of the foregoing, and perhaps some other problems and possible solutions.

2

(c) The Sonnets. Historical Particulars

We have seen that Shakespeare's "sugred sonnets among his private friends" are mentioned by Meres in 1598; but although a few may have been added after this date, they were not published till 1609. The play of "Edward III" (about 1595), contains a line

Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds,

which occurs in Sonnet XCIV; possibly the play came first; but this is still a matter of doubt. One other item of chronological evidence is the fact that Sonnets CXXXVIII and CXLIV were printed in the "Passionate Pilgrim" of 1599; and I may add that the style and the thought of these sonnets places some of them in the period of the earlier dramas, and the two poems, while others have resemblances in plays as late as 1600.

1 Cf. "Much Ado about Nothing ", V. ii. 4, 5:

Margaret. Will you then write me a sonnet in praise of my beauty?
Bene. In so high a style, Margaret, that no man living shall come over it.

2 See p. 22, where it will be noticed that Meres cites Ovid, and puts the two poems of Shakespeare by the side of the sonnets.

3 Examples of sonnets occur in the plays; there are three in "Love's Labour's Lost," two choruses in "Romeo and Juliet," and a letter in sonnet form in "All's Well that Ends Well."