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SONNETS
In 1640,as is well known,JohnBenson of St. Dunstan's Churchyard issued a volume called Poems: Writtenby Wil. Shake-speare,
Gent.,which contained-togetherwith many otherpieces-most of
the Sonnets of Shakespeareas they had been collectedin 1609, and
is thereforesometimescarelesslyspoken of as the second editionof
the Sonnets. This volume has usually been discussedin connection
withthequestionofthe arrangement
ofthe Sonnets,sincetheentirely
order fromthat of 1609 furnishessome evidence that by
different
1640 there was no traditionof a continuoussequence. But it has
been verylittleconsideredwithreferenceto the problemof its text,
possiblesources,and inferential
significance. Almostthe onlyexception to this statementis the accountgiven by Sir Sidney Lee in his
introductionto the ClarendonPress facsimileeditionof the Sonnets
(1905), wherehe speaks of the 1640 collectionas follows:
Benson'stextseemsbasedonsomeamateurcollection
ofpiecesofmanuscriptpoetry,whichhad beenin privatecirculation.His prefaceimplies
thatthesonnetsand poemsin hiscollection
werenotamongthosewhichhe
knewShakespeare
to have "avouched" (i.e.,publiclyacknowledged)
in his
lifetime.. . ... The theorythat the publisherBensonsoughthis copy
elsewhere
thanin Thorpe'streasury
is supported
by otherconsiderations.
Sonnets138 and 144,whichtake the thirty-first
and thirty-second
places
in Benson'svolume,ignoreThorpe'stext,and followthat of
respectively
Passionate
ofeightsonnets
Pilgrim(1599or 1612).2 The omission
Jaggard's
tells the same tale.....
It is difficult
to accountfor [theirexclusion]
thatBenson'scompiler
had notdiscovered
excepton theassumption
them.3
Now if this is true it is of moreimportancethan Lee pointsout.
That in 1640 a practicallycompletecollectionof the Sonnetsshould
be in existencein manuscript,different
in orderfromthat of 1609,
1 Lee also observes that Warren's commendatory verses, at the
beginning of the
volume, imply that the reader will make the acquaintance of the poems for the firsttime.
2 Though I have not had an opportunity to examine the 1612 edition of the
Pilgrim,
I have ascertained, by comparing Lee's account of it (Introduction to the reprintof 1905)
with the Benson text, that the latter was printed from the second edition, that of 1612as we should have guessed would be the case.
3 pp. 57-58.
171
17
[MODERN
PHILOLOGY,
May, 1916
18
RAYMOND
MACDONALD
ALDEN
yet givingsubstantiallythe same text, would in itselfbe a circumstance of great interest,suggestinga numberof curious questions.
What could have been the originalsource of such a text? Is it
possible that its text and its orderare at least as authenticas those
of the manuscriptused by Thorpe in 1609? Does the absence of
certain sonnets suggest the possibilitythat they were originally
writtenat a different
persons,from
time, or addressed to different
the rest? Such matterswould have to be subjected to the most
careful scrutiny. If, on the other hand, the sonnets in Benson's
collectionshould appear to have been printedfromthe Quarto of
1609,as certainofthe otherpoems appear to have been printedfrom
The Passionate Pilgrim and other miscellanies,all these problems
disappear.
It will firstbe necessaryto outlinethe arrangementof the Poems
of 1640,or at least that ofthe firstpartofthe volume,whichincludes
the Sonnets. The followingnumbersreferto the usual numbering,
that of 1609, and the singlenumbersor groupswhichare separated
by semicolons are those which Benson's editor grouped by themselves and provided with distincttitles. The Roman numeralsin
parenthesesreferto the poems of the PassionatePilgrimcollection.'
67-69; 60, 63-66; 53-54; 57, 58; 59; 1-3; 13-15; 16, 17; 7;
4-6; 8-12; 138; 144; (III); 21; 23; 22; (IV); (V); 20; 27-29;
(VI); (VII); 30-32; (VIII); (IX); 38-40; 41, 42; (XI); (XII);
(XIII); 44, 45; (X); 33-35; 36, 37; (XIV); 24; 25; 26; 50, 51;
46, 47; 48; 49; (XV); (XVI); (XVII); (XVIII); 62; 55; 52;
61; 71, 72, 74; 70; 80, 81; 116; 82-85; 86, 87; (XX); 88-91;
92-95; 97-99; 100, 101; 104-6; 102, 103; 109, 110; 111, 112;
113-15; 117-19; 120; 121; 122; 123; 124; 125; 128; 129; 127,
130-32; 133, 134; 135, 136; 137, 139, 140; 141, 142; 143; 145;
146; 147; 148-50; 78-79; 73, 77; 107, 108; 151, 152;2 153, 154.
The firstthingthat strikesthe readerin a surveyof thisarrangement is the extentto whichthe orderof the Sonnetsof 1609 is preserved,despitethe alterations. Inside the separatelytitledgroupsit
I According to the correct numbering, amounting to twenty poems in all. Many
editions, through a mistaken division of the 14th poem (" Good-night, good rest")
into two, number poems 15-20 as 16-21.
2 Here, before the final pair of sonnets on Cupid's brand, is inserted the "Tale of
Cephalus and Procris."
18
THE
1640 TEXT
OF SHAKESPEARE'S
SONNETS
19
19
20
omitted in the 1640 collection, and two of them having been printed (as observed by Lee
in the passage quoted above) from the Passionate Pilgrim version.
20
THE
1640TEXT
OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
21
22
22
THE
1640 TEXT
OF SHAKESPEARE'S
23
SONNETS
in the
Thus far I have said nothingregardingthose differences
two texts of the Sonnets whichamount to more than typographical
details and which would thereforebe of chiefinterestif we should
regard the 1640 volume as deservingthe name of a separatetext.
These must now be noticed, with a view to estimatingtheir significance. Though it has become clear that Benson's printerused
the text of 1609 for the actual settingup of the new volume, it is
withinthe limitsof possibilitythat there was anothercopy of the
Sonnets,in manuscript,whichguided himin forminga new arrangement and furnishedhim some new readings. We ought therefore
to inquire whetherthere appear changes in the text which cannot
well be attributedto the processof reprinting.
To this end I shall give a list of the variantreadingsof the 1640
text,classified-forconvenience-accordingas theymay be regarded
as corrections
oferrorsin the Quarto,or as newerrorsmade by Benson
(or his source). In some cases, of course,there may be a difference
of opinionas to whichgroup a given readingbelongsin; but these
are few. In these lists the Quarto (1609) readingsstand first.
CORRECTIONS OF ERRORS IN THE QUARTO
6, 4
13, 7
47, 11
50, 6
68, 7
69, 14
70, 1
73, 4
88, 1
90, 11
beautits
You selfe
nor
duly
scond
solye
are
rn'wd
dispode
stall
beauties
Yourselfe
not
dully
second
soyle'
art
ruin'd
dispos'd
shall
91, 9
98, 11
127, 2
128,14
132, 2
140, 5
147,12
153, 8
153,14
bitter
weare
weare
their
torment
weare
randon
strang
eye
better
were
were
thy
torments
were
randome
strange
eyes
1640
22, 2 are
28, 5 ethers
37, 11 am
41, 2 some-time
art
others
an
sometimes
54, 10 vnwoo'd
55, 12 weare
unmoov'd
were
NEW ERRORS OF
3, 3
3, 12
3, 13
7, 9
repaire
repaine
goulden
goulded
remembred remember
car
care
13, 13 deare
20, 9 wert
21, 6 earth
1Malone's
editors.
dare
54, 9 is
went
eatth
correction to "solve"
in
23
24
59, 8
65, 5
70, 13
73, 5
77, 6
83, 9
84, 2
84, 11
84, 12
88, 3
95, 10
101, 3
101,11
101,14
101,14
104, 1
104,10
minde
hunny
maskt
twi-light
thee
for
are
wit
stile
my
chose
Both
him
him
he
friend
pace
104,14
108, 5
108,10
111, 2
114,10
117, 9
118, 5
119,13
129,14
131, 1
133, 3
134,14
139,10
142, 1
146, 7
153,11
154, 2
mine
hungry
maske
twi-lights
the
of
art
writ
still
thy
choose
But
her
her
she
love
place
beauties
sweetboy
iniury
harmfull
kingly
errors
nere
rebukt
heaven
as
alone
am I
mine
thy
inheritors
withall
inflaming
beatties
sweet-love
injuries
harmelesse
kindly
errour
neare
rebuke
haven
a
along
I am
my
my
in heritors
withall
in flaming
I I admit that it is odd that one who exerted himself to do this should have left,
so negligently,some of the errors previously noted as reproduced from the Quarto text.
But it is obvious that the correction of a typographical error is a matter of no evidential
significance for the relation of the texts-it may be accomplished in any one of several
ways-whereas the reprintingof such an error is at once a probable indication of source.
24
THE
1640TEXT
OF SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
25
25
26
26
THE
1640 TEXT
OF SHAKESPEARE'S
SONNETS
27
27
28
less to do), under the title "Sunset." I can see no adequate cause
forthis,' and am consoledonlyby the fact that this is the only case
in the whole collectionwhere,withinthe separate groupsof sonnets,
the arrangementof the Quarto was changed unreasonably. There
is no furtherbreak of this kind untilwe reach Sonnets 128 and 129,
which were properlyomittedfromthe sequence 127, 130-32 (called
"In prayse of her beautie thoughblack"), and separatelyentitled
"Upon her playing the virginalls"and "Immoderate Lust." The
finalinstanceis the omissionof 138 fromthe sequence 137, 139 and
140, called "His heart wounded by her eye," forthe double reason
that it interruptedthe sequence and had already been reprinted
fromThe Passionate Pilgrim.
The groups of sonnets now having been formedand named,
instructionswere probably given for printingwithoutreferenceto
the existingorderofthegroups; on the contrary,the Quartoarrangementwas to be distorted,as we have guessed,fortheveryreasonthat
the new collectionwas to look different
fromthe old. "Print a few
groupsfromthe Sonnets Quarto, then two or threeselectionsfrom
the Pilgrim; then returnto the Sonnetsformore,and so proceed."
Somethingof this sort we may suppose to have been the printer's
instructions. But we cannot suppress a desire to know why he
should have plungedinto the middle of the Quarto and begun with
the inconspicuousgroup 67-69. To be sure, its title, "The glory
of beautie," is a promisingone for the opening of the anthology.
Is any otherreason discoverable? Only, so far as I see, what has
already appeared. These readersof 1640 understoodthe great part
of the Sonnetsto have to do with a woman or women; on the other
hand, some of themwere clearlyconcernedwitha man; let these be
got out of the way at the beginning.2 Perhaps it was to avoid
ambiguityin this regardthat therewas set at the very beginninga
sonnet whose firstline determinesthe sex of the personaddressed:
"Ah, whereforewithinfectionshouldhe live?"
1IPerhaps it is not the "redactor" who is to be held responsible, but merely the
printer,who may have skipped 73 by mistake, and done the best he could with it later.
Just the opposite process, it will be observed, from that which seems to have been
followed by Thorpe or his editor, in 1609, when all the sonnets obviously not addressed
to a male friendwere gathered at the end of the collection. I do not know why Benson's
order should include Sonnets 57-59 in the opening pages; in at least one sonnet of all
the other groups there is no room for doubt as to the sex. (Could "sovereign," in 57,
have suggested a man ? Perhaps so, by 1640.)
28
29
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30
STANFORD
JUNIOR
UNIVERSITY
30