Go to the Sonnets INTRO page
|
|
|
Go to the LIST of Sonnets page
Go to the Sonnets INTRO page |
|
TO . THE . ONLIE . BEGETTER . OF . THESE . INSVING . SONNETS . Mr. W. H. ALL . HAPPINESSE . AND . THAT . ETERNITIE . PROMISED . BY . OUR . EVER-LIVING . POET . WISHETH . THE . WELL-WISHING . ADVENTURER . IN . SETTING . FORTH . T. T. |
The original Sonnets dedication page looks approximately as shown at left. It was done in a kind of Roman style, that is, ancient Roman inscriptions used periods to mark spaces, and the Sonnets dedication does the same. T. T. is Thomas Thorpe, the publisher of the Sonnets. He registered the Sonnets for publication on May 20, 1609. Mr. W. H. is probably William Herbert, who is also probably the addressee of the Sonnets numbered 1 through 17 in the original publication. William Herbert, the 3rd Earl of Pembroke, was a patron (along with his brother Philip) of the First Folio publication of the Shakespeare plays in 1623. The "ever-living poet" is Jesus Christ, who promised eternity for the soul under Christian theological doctrine. The phrase can further be read as allusion to the hope of the Shakespeare Sonnets surviving forever, but that is a secondary implication of the phrase. The phrasing of the dedication is odd, often called enigmatic. It seems apparent that Thorpe was engaged in some cleverness in his exact wording and arrangement of the lines. A simple rearrangement of the lines produces the result below. THE . WELL-WISHING . ADVENTURER . IN . SETTING . FORTH . THESE . INSVING . SONNETS . WISHETH . TO . THE . ONLIE . BEGETTER . OF . Mr. W. H. ALL . HAPPINESSE . AND . THAT . ETERNITIE . PROMISED . BY . OUR . EVER-LIVING . POET . The "begetter" of William Herbert, quite literally, was his mother Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. (Historically, most of those who have examined the Sonnets have been men, and men, being what men are, tend to presume the "begetter" must be a man, but that is not necessarily the case. Literally, it is the woman who "begets.") Therefore, the dedication may indicate that Mary Sidney provided the Sonnets to Thorpe for publication. The unusual composition by Thorpe would then be to give a private thanks to two persons, William Herbert and his mother, Mary Sidney. |
| Go to: the Sonnets LIST page :|: or :|: the Sonnets INTRO page | Continue to: The Title Page |
|
Go to the |
The Shakespeare Sonnets, courtesy of:
|
See ALL the Sonnets on one long page. |