Mind in Character: Shakespeare's Speaker in the Sonnets"This book is about poetry rather than theory. Shakespeare's poetry, I find, remains more relevant and more rewarding than any theory, however elaborate, as to who, if anyone, should read a text and, if so, how they should do it. In other words, I do not intend another prolegomena for future studies of the reader in the text and/ or the text in the reader. I simply have written what I think the sonnets are about, what they say and how they say it. I do not attempt to speak for "the reader," as I know little about him or her, but only for myself. What interests me especially is the behavior of Shakespeare's sonnet-speaker, the coherent psychological entity projected by the speaking voice in these poems. I do not identify that speaker with the historical William Shakespeare, knowing scarcely more about him than about "the reader."--Preface. |
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Page 101
... written in this mode : nine of those first seventeen sonnets are self - effacing , while only eight more examples of ... writing of a copybook in 77. These seven sonnets do not give full- length portraits of the " thou " but render ...
... written in this mode : nine of those first seventeen sonnets are self - effacing , while only eight more examples of ... writing of a copybook in 77. These seven sonnets do not give full- length portraits of the " thou " but render ...
Page 104
... writing his sonnets . The empty note- book will be filled , we are told , if it is used together with two other imple- ments , the mirror and the sundial . These are both devices that mark the passage of time , in personal and objective ...
... writing his sonnets . The empty note- book will be filled , we are told , if it is used together with two other imple- ments , the mirror and the sundial . These are both devices that mark the passage of time , in personal and objective ...
Page 105
... writing corresponds to parturition , with the text as brainchild just as in the dedicatory letter to Venus and Adonis : “ But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed , I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather . " An ...
... writing corresponds to parturition , with the text as brainchild just as in the dedicatory letter to Venus and Adonis : “ But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed , I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather . " An ...
Contents
Ironies of Awareness I | 1 |
Soliloquy Sonnets | 44 |
Dialogue Sonnets | 99 |
Copyright | |
3 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
action appears argument attempt auditor awareness beauty becomes begins beloved called claims closing comparison concern concludes continues contrast corresponds couplet creates criticism defined described dialogue direct earlier effect entire evil example experience expression eyes fair false feelings final follows four gives heart human idea ideal imagery implies ironic irony lack lady leads less lines linked live looks marks meaning merely mind mode moral nature never object observation once opening pattern phrase poem poetic poetry praise present procreation pronouns quatrain question reference reflects relation remains result rhetorical seems seen sense sequence serves Shakespeare's Shakespeare's Sonnets single soliloquy sonnet 63 speaker speaking statement structure suggests thee theme things thou thought throughout tion true turning verb woman youth