The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1778 Thursday, 20 October 2005
[1] From: Robert Projansky <
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Date: Wednesday, 19 Oct 2005 06:47:54 -0700
Subj: Re: SHK 16.1758 Sonnet 76
[2] From: Dan Decker <
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Date: Wednesday, 19 Oct 2005 12:59:26 EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 16.1766 Sonnet 76
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Robert Projansky <
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Date: Wednesday, 19 Oct 2005 06:47:54 -0700
Subject: 16.1758 Sonnet 76
Comment: Re: SHK 16.1758 Sonnet 76
>Ben Alexander asks what does Sonnet 76 mean at line 7:
>
>"That euery word doth almost fel my name,"
Why does everybody seem to believe that's "tell"? In the online 1609
facsimile at
http://www.shu.ac.uk/emls/Sonnets/e4v.jpg
it looks pretty clearly to me to be "sel my name". "Sell" doesn't make
much sense to me there, but from the four-line sentence in which it is
embedded, I would guess that's a typo that was meant to read:
Why write I still all one, ever the same
And keep invention in a noted weed
That every word doth almost spel my name,
Shewing their birth, and where they did proceed?
I think that's a better fit than "tell".
Of course, I have no way to support my supposition except to say that
"spell" there just seems more Shakespearean to me than "tell", I guess
because "spell" is a verb more intimately involved with the act of
writing, the purported subject of the poem so far, than "tell". In
literal terms, I think "every word" has to be busier and cleverer to
somehow "spell" the poet's name than simply to "tell" it.
Also, I don't think WS wants the connotation of counting here, which
"tell" brings with it. And I suppose (without being able to say why) a
compositor's dropped-letter typo would be more likely than a
substituted-letter typo. Now, if the error originated with WS or a
scrivener rather than in the printshop, I think a dropped "p" hugely
more likely than the erroneous substitution of an "s" for a "t".
On the other hand, Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography, says that
when he was a printer's apprentice it was his job to fetch drink for the
printers, that they said because it was heavy work for strong men they
needed strong drink. I suppose it's miraculous that anything they
printed ever made sense. And, of course, the t's and s's would have been
right next to each other in the tray, so any sweaty compositor with his
thirst well-quenched could easily have set an s for a t.
Best wishes,
Bob Projansky
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Dan Decker <
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Date: Wednesday, 19 Oct 2005 12:59:26 EDT
Subject: 16.1766 Sonnet 76
Comment: Re: SHK 16.1766 Sonnet 76
I believe it was Helen Vendler who suggested that 76 reads as though it
is in response to something said to the poet (presumably by the person
who has received the most sonnets (presumably the Fair Youth (presumably
Henry Rosely <wink>))), along the lines of, "Why is it everything you
write me is always the same? Sonnets, sonnets, sonnets! That's all I
ever get from you." To which the poet wrote 76, basically dismissing the
rag for his inability to understand just what the sonnets were.
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