The Wit and Wisdom of Shakespeare by Walters Darrel;Schoenfeldt Michael;

Author:Walters, Darrel;Schoenfeldt, Michael; [Walters, Darrel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2015-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Not as current as you might be

Barren of new pride

Needing some variety

Far from variation or quick change

Not inventive enough

Keep invention in a noted weed

Authorship is recognizable

Every word doth almost tell my name

In his exaggerated account of the criticisms he’s heard, Shakespeare seems to be positioning himself throughout the first two quatrains to meet the challenge. Are these the qualities of my writing that you question? Apparently you don’t understand the frame of mind from which I write. I’m going to have to set you straight. One can imagine him with a raised eyebrow and a suppressed sneer as he writes, all the while trying to remain restrained and respectful despite feeling hurt.

After two quatrains of feeding back in exaggerated form the criticisms that he considers unwarranted, Shakespeare devotes the remainder of the sonnet to justifying—even extolling—what he has been creating. He challenges the young man to understand him. “I always write of you,” he says. He seems to be asking his young friend, don’t you recognize that what you’re reading is a monument to you?

Then as he launches into an explanation, a tone of patience and earnestness takes over. He’s trying to put some good sense into the head of the young friend who has been blinded by immaturity and impetuousness. I have no desire to lessen the attention I lavish on you simply to demonstrate that I can put a variety of material into these sonnets. What you are reading is evidence of my sincere devotion. I’ll find my variety in style (dress old words new) rather than in content, and I’ll continue to sing your praises.

By characterizing words as something to be spent, as if they were a form of currency, he may be embedding into his explanation a subtle analogy. Money isn’t a “compound strange,” nor is it anything “new-found.” Like the words in my verse, money is familiar to everyone and used repeatedly. Still, you never hear of it being criticized as repetitious or monotonous or overly common. Money is valued for the power it has to purchase goods and services. So too, the words I’m using in my sonnets, familiar to everyone and used repeatedly, have the power to purchase expressions and ideas. It’s just that my choice, says Shakespeare to the less-than-appreciative young man, is to focus those expressions and ideas on all that I appreciate about you.

In the couplet, the comparison he makes between the sun and his love for the young man is particularly powerful. The sun is both new and old every day. As we see it come and go—rising in the morning and setting in the evening—we never wish for something different. We appreciate the blessing it delivers each day. My love for you is like that sun, he says. The sun never tries to put on a fashionably different appearance, or rise in the West rather than the East. It never seeks ostentatious adornments beyond the natural beauty that it carries with it at all times.

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