Testimony of the Sonnets as to the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays and Poems
Testimony of the Sonnets as to the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays and Poems
Book Excerpt
these as mere fancies, obviously finds that many of them treated of facts.[7] Mr. Dowden, in a work devoted to the Sonnets, states very fully the views which have been expressed by different authors in relation to them. His quotations occupy sixty pages and, I think, clearly show that the weight of authority is decidedly in favor of allowing them their natural or primary meaning.
There are one hundred and fifty-four of these Sonnets. The last two are different in theme and effect from those which go before, and may perhaps not improperly be considered as mere exercises in poetizing. They have no connection with the others, and I would have no contention with those who regard them as suggested by Petrarch, or as complaisant imitations of the vogue or fashion of that time. Those two Sonnets I leave out of this discussion, and would have what may be here said, understood as applying only to the one hundred and fifty-two remaining.
These one hundred and fifty-two Sonnets I will now insist have a co
FREE EBOOKS AND DEALS
(view all)Popular books in Essays, Fiction and Literature
Readers reviews
0.0
LoginSign up
Be the first to review this book