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In rendering the Sonnets by William Shakespeare on this website, the following conventions are being applied throughout.
Much in line with common practice: - Archaic spellings are being contemporised, such as neuer to never, heire to heir, fewell to fuel, eate to eat; and obsolete letters replaced with contemporary ones, such as s for the 'long s' ſ. - Punctuation is being standardised and emended to aid the contemporary reader in their understanding of the text. - In most cases, capitalised words that in contemporary English do not require a capital letter are being converted to lower case, such as Winter to winter. Exceptions are made in cases where personification requires or strongly suggests that the word be given effectively as a name. Editors make different choices concerning conjugated verbs and the use of apostrophes to indicate syllables that are not pronounced or accents to mark those that are. Here, a decision has been taken to largely ease off on these aids as neither the Quarto Edition nor any subsequent one is entirely consistent as to the use of apostrophes, and of course accents do not feature in the Quarto Edition at all. So here, the text is set largely without extraneous marks, with notes given in the explanations to help with pronunciation where necessary and/or relevant. For example: 1.6 Quarto Edition feed'st is here given as feedst 1.11 Quarto Edition buriest is here also given as buriest; it is nevertheless pronounced with two syllables: 'buri'st' 1.12 Quarto Edition makst is here given as makest and pronounced with one syllable. Most editors render the Shakespearean ore, to mean over, as o'er. A decision has been taken here to leave the original spelling, although archaic, intact, as it is easy enough to understand and makes sense as it is. Specific textual issues will be discussed in the notes for each sonnet as they are added. Summarised here for easy reference are those instances where potentially significant departures from the Quarto Editions have been carried out only. This does not, however, include obvious misspellings of words in the Quarto Edition. Sonnet 25: Let Those Who Are in Favour With Their Stars
Line 9: The painful warrior famoused for fight, Quarto Edition: The painefull warrier famosed for worth, Most people agree that 'worth' must be a typesetting error. Some editors, including Colin Burrow for the Oxford Shakespeare edition, adopt might. Others, including John Kerrigan for the New Penguin edition prefer fight. Some editors have suggested emending line 11 to obtain a rhyme with 'worth', such as: The painful warrior famoused for worth After a thousand victories once foiled Is from the book of honour razed forth This, however, is not very convincing and rarely retained today. Colin Burrow argues that the alliteration famoused for fight is "too harsh, even for this military context," but I disagree. I hold with John Kerrigan and opt for 'fight', as – to my mind – it yields by far the most satisfying and sensible solution, seeing that a warrior would, after all, be mostly famous for their fighting skill and prowess, whereas 'might' might more readily be ascribed to a prince or indeed an entire armed force. The issue, however, cannot be resolved conclusively. Sonnet 27: Weary With Toil I Haste Me to My Bed
Line 10: Presents thy shadow to my sightless view, Quarto Edition: Presents their shaddoe to my sightles view 'Their' is almost universally accepted to be a typesetting error, which is why most editors here emend – as I do – to 'thy'. Sonnet 31: Thy Bosom Is Endeared With All Hearts
Line 8: But things removed that hidden in thee lie Quarto Edition: But things remou'd that hidden in there lie, The Quarto Edition's 'there' makes sense, but 'there' and 'thee' very often get mixed up in this edition, and when spoken out loud, thee not only yields a gratifying and rhythmically more accurate emphasis, but also segues the line straight into the 'Thou' of the next line. Many editors therefore emend to 'thee' and I have followed this practice in this instance. Sonnet 34: Why Didst Thou Promise Such a Beauteous Day
Line 12: To him that bears the strong offence's cross. Quarto Edition: To him that beares the strong offenses losse. 'Loss' is more or less universally accepted to be an error as the biblical reference clearly suggests 'cross'. Line 13: Ah, but those tears are pearl that thy love sheds, Quarto Edition: Ah but those teares are pearle that thy loue sheeds, 'Sheeds' is an old spelling of 'sheds' and here is required to obtain a perfect rhyme with 'deeds': Ah, but those tears are pearl that thy love sheeds, And they are rich and ransom all ill deeds. Editors make different decisions as to whether to retain the original 'sheeds' to preserve the rhyme, or whether to modernise it at the expense of the rhyme. Since in the majority of cases where Original Pronunciation (OP) is needed for a perfect rhyme the spelling of the word in the Quarto Edition does not, as it does here, make this clear, the general approach taken is to lean towards contemporary spellings and pronunciations, even if this by necessity means compromising on rhymes. Sonnet 35: No More Be Grieved at That Which Thou Hast Done
Line 8: Excusing thy sins more than thy sins are; Quarto Edition: Excusing their sins more than their sins are: Most editors emend 'their' to 'thy' here, because it seems obvious that the typesetter working from a manuscript often gets these mixed up, and this emendation has here been adopted. That said, a strong case can be made for Quarto's 'their': if the 'faults' that 'all men make' are allowed to represent sins, then the idea that I, the poet, excuse the sins of the faults that all men make in you more than they actually are makes sense. Sonnet 37: As a Decrepit Father Takes Delight
Line 7: Entitled in thy parts do crowned sit. Quarto Edition: Intitled in their parts, do crowned sit. 'Their' here is almost universally considered to be an instance of the common typesetting error and emended to 'thy'. Sonnet 45: The Other Two, Slight Air and Purging Fire
Line 17: Of thy fair health, recounting it to me. Quarto Edition: Of their faire health, recounting it to me. 'Their' is widely considered to be a typesetting error and emended to 'thy'. Sonnet 50: How Heavy Do I Journey on the Way
Line 6: Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me. Quarto Edition: Plods duly on, to beare that waight in me, 'Duly', meaning 'dutifully' or possibly 'due in the right direction', would make sense, but the majority of editors emend this to 'dully', which is referenced in the companion piece, Sonnet 51, with: Thus can my love forgive the slow offence Of my dull bearer, when from thee I speed. 'Dully' would appear to sit more comfortably in the context of Sonnet 50 also, and the omission of a letter in a usually double-lettered spelling is so common as to be considered almost normal at the time. Worth bearing in mind too is that a double meaning of both 'duly' and 'dully', which would have been pronounced almost the same in Shakespeare's day, may be fully intended. Sonnet 51: Thus Can My Love Excuse the Slow Offence
Line 10: Therefore desire, of perfectst love being made, Quarto Edition: Therefore desire (of perfects love being made) Some editors argue that there can be no superlative of 'perfect', since 'perfect' is by definition unimprovable, and therefore emend to 'perfect', but Shakespeare uses 'perfectst' in MacBeth, 'perfectest' as an adjective in Much Ado About Nothing and 'most perfect' in Cymbeline: he is clearly not concerned about the logical strictures of grammar and so here the emendation to the more evocative and pointed 'perfectst' has been adopted. Sonnet 55: Not Marble, Nor the Gilded Monuments
Line 1: Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Quarto Edition: Not marble, nor the guilded monument, Since the word at the end of this line has to rhyme with 'contents', and since we are talking about princes in the plural, the common emendation to 'monuments' is almost certainly justified. Sonnet 67: Ah, Wherefore With Infection Should He Live
Line 6: And steal dead seeming of his living hue Quarto Edition: And steale dead seeing of his liuing hew There is no consensus as to whether 'dead seeing' should be accepted to mean 'lifeless appearance' or whether the letter m has been omitted in error. Shakespeare uses the phrase "after long seeming dead" in Othello, but neither 'dead seeing' nor 'dead seeming' appears anywhere else in his works. On a balance of probabilities, a decision has here been taken to adopt the emendation to dead seeming suggested by many editors. Sonnet 69: Those Parts of Thee That the World's Eye Doth View
Line 3: All tongues, the voice of souls, give thee that due, Quarto Edition: All toungs (the voice of soules), giue thee that end, 'End' in the Quarto Edition does not rhyme with 'view' and is universally accepted as a typesetting error, which most editors emend to 'due', since this makes sense. Line 5: Thy outward thus with outward praise is crowned, Quarto Edition: Their outward thus with outward praise is crownd, If accompanied by a verb in plural, the Quarto's 'Their' could potentially refer to the 'parts of thee', but since the verb 'is' stands in the singular, it is clear that this is a common their/thy confusion and usually gets emended accordingly. Sonnet 70
Line 6: Thy worth the greater, being wooed of time, Quarto Edition: Their worth the greater being woo'd of time, There is no plural here that 'their' could refer to, so this is generally accepted as a common their/thy confusion and usually gets emended. Sonnet 71: No Longer Mourn for Me When I am Dead
Line 2: Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell Quarto Edition: Then you shall heare the surly sullen bell The emendation to 'than' is usually adopted as it makes sense, but it does subtly change the dynamic, because it 'then' allows us to also read: No longer mourn for me when I am dead. Then, when I am dead, you will hear the surly sullen bell... And there is a difference, because the instruction not to mourn me when I am dead is much more categorical: a) don't do this, don't mourn me; and then, b) this will happen, you will hear the surly sullen bell. The spelling of 'then' and 'than' is interchangeable in Early Modern English and this is a glorious example of Shakespeare deploying the powers of his language to maximum and multiple effect. But since we no longer readily read 'then' as 'than', the emendation here, too, has been accepted. Sonnet 77: Thy Glass Will Show Thee How Thy Beauties Wear
Line 10: Commit to these waste blanks and thou shalt find Quarto Edition: Commit to these waste blacks, and thou shalt finde 'Blacks' – since it makes no sense – is generally taken as a printing error and emended to 'blanks', which not only makes sense but also references the 'vacant leaves' of line 3. Sonnet 106: When in the Chronicle of Wasted Time
Line 12: They had not skill enough your worth to sing, Quarto Edition: They had not still enough your worth to sing: 'Still' also can make sense, to mean 'yet', so the line would then read, 'they did not yet have enough – material, grounds, or indeed practice and therefore skill – to speak of your true worth because they could not yet look at you'. And it can also be read as an old spelling of 'style' in which case the line would read: 'they did not yet have the style to speak of you properly'. None of this though sounds truly satisfactory, and most major editions assume 'still' to be a typesetting error and emend this to 'skill' which I therefore follow. |