SHAKESPEARE'S NONDRAMATIC WORKS
We shall later trace Shakespeare's development as a writer of plays.
We must first, however, turn back to discuss some early productions of
his, which were composed before most of his dramas, and which are
wholly distinct from these in character.
Every young author who mixes with men notices what kinds of work other
writers are producing, and is tempted to try his hand at every kind in
turn. Later he learns that he is fitted for one particular kind of
work; and, leaving other forms of writing to other men, devotes the
rest of his life to his chosen field. So it was with Shakespeare.
While a young man, he tried several different forms of poetry in
imitation of contemporary versifiers, and thus produced the poems which
we are to discuss in this chapter. Later he came to realize that his
special genius was in the field of the drama, and abandoned other types
of poetry to turn his whole energy toward the production of plays.
Although unquestionably inferior to the author's greatest comedies and
tragedies, these early poems are, in their kind, masterpieces of
literature.
+Venus and Adonis+.--The first of these poems, a verse narrative of
some 1204 lines, called _Venus and Adonis_, was printed in the spring
of 1593 when the {61} author was about twenty-nine years old. As far
as we have evidence, it was the first of all Shakespeare's works to
appear in print;[1] but it is possible that some early plays were
composed before it although printed after it.
Other poets of the day had been interested in retelling in their own
way old stories of Greek and Roman literature, and Shakespeare, in
_Venus and Adonis_, was engaged in the same task. The outline of the
poem is taken (either directly or through an imitation of previous
borrowers) from the Latin poet Ovid,[2] who lived in the time of
Christ. Venus, the goddess of love, is enamored of a beautiful boy,
called Adonis, and tries in vain by every device to win his affection.
He repulses all her advances, and finally runs away to go hunting, and
is killed by a wild boar. Venus mourns over his dead body, and causes
a flower (the anemone or wind flower) to spring from his blood.
Shakespeare's handling of the story shows both the virtues and the
defects of a young writer. It is more diffuse, more wordy, than his
later work, and written for the taste of another time than ours; but,
on the other hand, it is full of vivid, picturesque language of
melodious rhythm, and of charming little touches of country life.
Like most of Shakespeare's verse, it is written in iambic
pentameter.[3] The poem is divided into stanzas {62} of six lines
each, in which the first and third lines rime, the second and fourth,
and the fifth and sixth. We represent this arrangement of rimes by
saying that the rime scheme of the stanza is _a, b, a, b, c, c,_ where
the same letter represents the same riming sound at the ends of lines.
As a specimen stanza, the following, often quoted because of the vivid
picture it presents, is given. It describes a mettlesome horse.
"Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long, (_a-)
Round breast, full eye, small head and nostril wide, (_b-)
High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong, (_a_)
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide: (_b_)
Look, what a horse should have he did not lack, (_c_)
Save a proud rider on so proud a back." (_c_)
+The Rape of Lucrece+.--A year later, in 1594, when Shakespeare was
thirty, he published another narrative poem, _The Rape of Lucrece_.
The story of Lucrece had also come down from Ovid.[4] This poem is
about 1800 lines in length. It tells the old legend, found at the
beginning of all Roman histories, how Sextus Tarquin ravished Lucrece,
the pure and beautiful wife of Collatine, one of the Roman nobles; how
she killed herself rather than survive her shame; and how her husband
and friends swore in revenge to dethrone the whole Tarquin family.
This poem, as compared with _Venus and Adonis_, shows some traces of
increasing maturity. The author does more serious and concentrated
thinking as he writes. Whether or not it is a better poem is a
question which every man must settle for himself. Its best passages
are probably more impressive, its poorest ones more dull.
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The form of stanza used here is known as "rime royal," which had become
famous two centuries before as a favorite meter of the first great
English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer. This stanza contains seven lines
instead of six: the rime-scheme is as follows: _a, b, a, b, b, c, c_.
The following is a specimen stanza from the poem:--
"Now stole upon the time the dead of night, (_a_)
When heavy sleep had closed up mortal eyes. (_b_)
No comfortable star did lend his light, (_a_)
No noise but owls' and wolves' death-boding cries; (_b_)
Now serves the season that they may surprise (_b_)
The silly lambs. Pure thoughts are dead and still, (_c_)
While lust and murder wakes to stain and kill." (_c_)
A significant fact about both of these poems is that they were
dedicated to Henry Wriothesley (pronounced Wrisley or Rot'-es-ly), Earl
of Southampton, who has already been mentioned as a friend and patron
of Shakespeare. The dedication at the beginning of _Venus and Adonis_
is conventional and almost timid in tone; that prefixed to the Lucrece
seems to indicate a closer and more confident friendship which had
grown up during the intervening year. Dedications to some prominent
man were frequently prefixed to books by Elizabethan authors, either as
a mark of love and respect to the person addressed, or in hopes that a
little pecuniary help would result from this acceptable form of
flattery. In Shakespeare's case it may possibly have fulfilled both of
these purposes.
+The Sonnets+.--Besides these two narrative poems Shakespeare wrote
numerous sonnets. In order to {64} understand his accomplishment in
this form of poetry, some account of the type is necessary.
The sonnet may be briefly defined as a rimed poem in iambic pentameter,
containing fourteen lines, divided into the octave of eight lines and
the sextet of six.
The sonnet originated in southern Europe, and reached its highest stage
of development in the hands of the great Italian poet Petrarch, who
lived some two centuries before Shakespeare. As written by him it was
characterized by a complicated rime scheme,[5] {65} which gave each one
of these short poems an atmosphere of unusual elegance and polish.
Sonnets were often written in groups on a single theme. These were
called sonnet sequences. Each separate poem was like a single facet of
a diamond, illuminating the subject from a new point of view.
In the hands of Petrarch and other great writers of his own and later
times, the sonnet became one of the most popular forms of verse in
Europe. Such popularity for any particular type of literature never
arises without a reason. The aim of the sonnet is to embody one single
idea or emotion, one deep thought or wave of strong feeling, to
concentrate the reader's whole mind on this one central idea, and to
clinch it at the end by some epigrammatic phrase which will fasten it
firmly in the reader's memory. For instance, in Milton's sonnet _On
his Blindness_, the central idea is the glory of patience; and the last
line drives this main idea home in words so pithily adapted that they
have become almost proverbial.
During the sixteenth century, rich young Englishmen were in the habit
of traveling in Italy for education and general culture. They brought
home with them a great deal that they saw in this brilliant and highly
educated country; and among other things they imported into England the
Italian habit of writing sonnets. The first men who composed sonnets
in English after the Italian models were two young noblemen, Sir Thomas
Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey, who wrote just before Shakespeare was
born. Their work called out a crowd of imitators; and in a few years
the writing of sonnets became the fashion.
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As a young man, Shakespeare found himself among a crowd of authors,
with whom sonnetteering was a literary craze; and it is not surprising
that he should follow the fashion. Most of these were probably
composed about 1594, when the poet was thirty years old; but in regard
to this there is some uncertainty. A few were certainly later. They
were not printed in a complete volume until 1609;[6] and then they were
issued by a piratical publisher, apparently without the author's
consent.
In the Shakespearean sonnet the complicated rime scheme of its Italian
original has become very much simplified, being reduced to the
following form: _a, b, a, b; c, d, c, d_; _e, f, e, f_; _g, g_. This
is merely three four-line stanzas with alternate rimes, plus a final
couplet. Such a simplified form had already been used by other English
authors, from whom our poet borrowed it.
Shakespeare's sonnets, apart from some scattered ones in his plays, are
154[7] in number. They are usually divided into two groups or
sequences. The first sequence consists of numbers 1-126 (according to
the original edition); and most of them are unquestionably addressed to
a man. The second sequence contains numbers 127-154, and the majority
of these are clearly written to a woman. There are a few in both
groups which do not show clearly the sex of the person addressed, and
also a few which are not addressed to any one.
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Beyond some vague guesses, we have no idea as to the identity of the
"dark lady" who inspired most of the last twenty-eight sonnets.
Somewhat less uncertainty surrounds the man to whom the poet speaks in
the first sequence. A not improbable theory is that he was the Earl of
Southampton already mentioned, although this cannot be considered as
proved.[8] The chief arguments which point to Southampton are: (_a_)
That Shakespeare had already dedicated _Venus and Adonis_ and _Lucrece_
to him; (_b_) that he was regarded at that time as a patron of poets;
(_c_) that the statements about this unnamed friend, his reluctance to
marry, his fair complexion and personal beauty, his mixture of virtues
and faults, fit Southampton better than any other man of that period
whom we have any cause to associate with Shakespeare; and (_d_) that he
was the only patron of Shakespeare's early years known to us, and was
warmly interested in the poet.
The literary value of the different sonnets varies considerably. When
an author is writing a fashionable {68} form of verse, he is apt to
become more or less imitative and artificial at times, saying things
merely because it is the vogue to say them; and Shakespeare here cannot
be wholly acquitted of this fault. But at other times he speaks from
heart to heart with a depth of real emotion and wealth of vivid
expression which has given us some of the noblest poetry in the
language.
Another question, more difficult to settle than the literary value of
these poems, is their value as a revelation of Shakespeare's own life.
If we could take in earnest everything which is said in the sonnets, we
should learn a great many facts about the man who wrote them. But
modern scholarship seems to feel more and more that we cannot take all
their statements literally. We must remember here again that
Shakespeare says many things because it was the fashion in his day for
sonnetteers to say them. For example, he gives some eloquent
descriptions of the woes of old age; but we know that contemporary
poets lamented about old age when they had not yet reached years of
discretion; and consequently we are not at all convinced that
Shakespeare was either really old or prematurely aged. Such
considerations need not interfere with our enjoyment of the poetry, for
the author's imagination may have made a poetical fancy seem real to
him as he wrote; but they certainly do not lessen our doubts in regard
to the value of the sonnets as autobiography. The majority of the
sonnets, at least, cannot be said to throw any light on Shakespeare's
life.
There are, however, six sonnets, connected with each other in subject,
which, more definitely than any of {69} the others, shadow forth a real
event in the poet's life. These are numbers XL, XLI, XLII, CXXXIII,
CXXXIV, CXLIV. They seem to show that a woman whom the poet loved had
forsaken him for the man to whom the sonnets are written; and that the
poet submits to this, owing to his deep friendship for the man. Two of
these sonnets are given below.
SONNET CXLIV
"Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell:
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out."
SONNET XLI
"These pretty wrongs that liberty commits,
When I am sometime absent from thy heart,
Thy beauty and thy years full well befits,
For still temptation follows where thou art.
Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won,
Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed;
And when a woman woos, what woman's son
Will sourly leave her till she have prevailed?
Ay me! but yet thou mightst my seat forbear,
And chide thy beauty and thy straying youth,
Who lead thee in their riot even there
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Where thou art forced to break a twofold truth,
Hers, by thy beauty tempting her to thee,
Thine, by thy beauty being false to me."
Again, in Sonnet CX, we find an allusion to the distasteful nature of
the actor's profession which seems to ring sincere. Thus in a few
cases Shakespeare may be giving us glimpses into his real heart; but in
general the sentiments expressed in his sonnets could be explained as
due to the literary conventions of this time.
+Other Poems+.--The two narrative poems and the sonnets make up most of
Shakespeare's nondramatic poetry. A word may be added about some other
scattered bits of verse which are connected with his name. In 1599 an
unscrupulous publisher, named William Jaggard, brought out a book of
miscellaneous poems by various authors, called _The Passionate
Pilgrim_. Since Shakespeare was a popular writer, his name was sure to
increase the sale of any book; so Jaggard, with an advertising instinct
worthy of a later age, coolly printed the whole thing as the work of
Shakespeare. As a matter of fact, only a few short pieces were by him;
and were probably stolen from some private manuscript.
In 1601 a poem, _The Phoenix and the Turtle_, was also printed as his
in an appendix to a longer poem by another man. We cannot trust the
printer when he signs it with Shakespeare's name, and we have no other
evidence about its authorship; but the majority of scholars believe it
to be genuine. Another poem, _A Lover's Complaint_, which was printed
in the same volume with the sonnets in 1609, is of distinctly less
merit and probably spurious.
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Lastly, the short poems incorporated in the plays deserve brief notice.
In a way they are part of the plots in which they are embedded; but
they may also be considered as separate lyrics. Several sonnets and
verses in stanza form occur in _Romeo and Juliet_ and in the early
comedies. Three of these were printed as separate poems in _The
Passionate Pilgrim_. Far more important than the above, however, are
the songs which are scattered through all the plays early and late.
Their merit is of a supreme quality; some of the most famous musical
composers, inspired by his works, have graced them with admirable
music. One of the most attractive features in his lyrics is their
spontaneous ease of expression. They seem to lilt into music of their
own accord, as naturally as birds sing. The best of these are found in
the comedies of the Second Period and in the romantic plays of the
Fourth. "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more" in _Much Ado About
Nothing_; "Blow, blow, thou winter wind" in _As You Like it_; "Hark,
hark, the lark at heaven's gate sings" in _Cymbeline_; and "Full fathom
five thy father lies" in _The Tempest_,--these and others like them
show that the author, though primarily a dramatist, could be among the
greatest of song writers when he tried.
The following lines taken from the little-read play, _The Two Gentlemen
of Verona_, may serve to illustrate the perfection of the Shakespearean
lyric.
SONG
Who is Sylvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.
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Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair
To help him of his blindness,
And being helped, inhabits there.
Then to Sylvia let us sing,
That Sylvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring.
Such are Shakespeare's nondramatic writings. Two narrative poems with
the faults of youth but with many redeeming virtues; one hundred and
fifty-four sonnets, very unequal in merit but touching at their best
the high-water mark of English verse; a few stray fragments of disputed
authorship and doubtful value; and finally a handful of scattered
songs, short, but almost perfect of their kind,--this is what we have
outside of the plays. Neither in quantity nor quality can this work
compare with the poetic value of the great dramas; but had it been
written by any other man, we should have thought it wonderful enough.
On the sonnets, the appendix to Mr. Sidney Lee's book, _A Life of
William Shakespeare_, 1909, is particularly valuable.
[1] Shakespeare in his dedication calls it "the first heir of my
invention"; but opinions differ as to what he meant by this.
[2] Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, Book X.
[3] That is, the common, or standard, line has ten syllables with an
accent on every even syllable, as in the following line:--
1 +2+ 3 +4+ 5 +6+ 7 +8+ 9 +10+
The NIGHT of SORrow NOW is TURN'D to DAY.
[4] From his _Fasti_.
[5] The rime scheme of the Italian type divided each sonnet into two
parts, the first one of eight lines, the second of six. In the first
eight lines the rimes usually went a, b, b, a, a, b, b, a; but
sometimes _a, b, a, b, a, b, a, b_: in both cases using only two rimes
for the eight lines. In the second or six-line part there were several
different arrangements, of which the following were the most common:
(1) _c, d, e, c, d, e_; (2) _c, d, c, d, c, d_; (3) _c, d, e, d, c, e_.
All of these rime-schemes alike were intended, by their constant
repetition and interlocking of the same rimes, to give the whole poem
an air of exquisite workmanship, like that of a finely modeled vase.
Here is an English sonnet of Milton's, imitating the form of Petrarch's
and illustrating its rime scheme:--
"When I consider how my light is spent (_a_)
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, (_b_)
And that one talent which is death to hide (_b_)
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (_a_)
To serve therewith my Maker, and present (_a_)
My true account, lest He returning chide, (_b_)
Doth God exact day-labour, light denied? (_b_)
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent (_a_)
That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need (_c_)
Either man's work or his own gifts. Who best (_d_)
Bear his mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state (_e_)
Is kingly: thousands at his bidding speed, (_c_)
And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (_d_)
They also serve who only stand and wait." (_e_)
[6] See p. 113.
[7] Including at least three which do not have in all respects the
regular sonnet form.
[8] Southampton's chief rival for this position in the opinion of
scholars has been William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. One point in his
favor has been that the initials W. H. (supposed to stand for William
Herbert) are given as those of the person to whom the dedication of the
volume was addressed by its publisher. Mr. Sidney Lee thinks, however,
that this is a dedication by the printer to the printer's friend, not
by Shakespeare to Shakespeare's friend,--a possible, though not wholly
convincing, explanation. The First Folio was dedicated to Herbert
after Shakespeare's death, but we have no evidence that the two men
were intimate friends while living. Meres mentions the sonnets of
Shakespeare in 1598, so part of them at least must have been written
before that year; but Herbert did not have a permanent residence in
London until 1598, and was then only eighteen years old.
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