On the Dedication for Shakespeare’s Sonnets (2012)

On the Dedication for Shakespeare’s Sonnets

I offer here an interpretation of the dedication for the Sonnets. It assumes that Shakespeare has written these words to be presented on his behalf by the publisher Thomas Thorpe. This is suggested by their affinity to the challenging wit of the poems, and my observations are intended to complement a discussion of the Sonnets in Chapter 2 of Forms of Enlightenment in Art.

                                    TO . THE . ONLIE . BEGETTER . OF.

                                     THESE . INSVING . SONNETS.

                                      Mr .W . H . ALL . HAPPINESS.

                                       AND . THAT . ETERNITY.

                                                PROMISED.

                                                       BY.

                                      OUR . EVER-LIVING . POET.

                                                  WISHETH.

                                       THE . WELL-WISHING.

                                         ADVENTURER . IN.

                                              SETTING.

                                                 FORTH.

                                                               T . T .

We see this affinity in the setting out, in a style which recalls the concise inscription of a Roman monument, and thus departs from the ornate and obsequious performance that might be expected. This form also creates a problem for the reader, as the inclusion of a full stop after every word raises a question concerning punctuation. Does one or more of the full stops represent the end of a sentence? This can only be answered by their necessity to the logic and cogency of the lines. With this in mind I propose the following elucidation:

To the onlie begetter of these insving sonnets. Mr. W. H. all happiness and that eternity promised by our ever-living poet wisheth the well-wishing adventurer in setting forth.

The second sentence is in apposition, as it indicates (in a characteristically indirect way) that the ‘onlie begetter’ is not a person but a relationship, the relationship between the poet and his reader(s). ‘Mr. W. H.’ deceptively appears to name the dedicatee but actually refers to Shakespeare, Mr. William himself. Thus his wishing all happiness (the joy and pleasure of reading) and that eternity promised by our ever-living poet (in the form of an unending body of readers) is addressed to the well-wishing and adventurous reader.

The spare and plain language (especially ‘Mr’) strongly suggests that this is not a dedication to a particular person, least of all to a nobleman. Furthermore, the use of capital letters and the initials, together with the use of the full stop, deliberately create a sense of ambiguity about Mr. W. H. and it has been suggested by the German critic D. Barnstorff (A key to Shakespeare’s Sonnets, 1862) that William himself is the dedicatee.

Barnstorff argues that Shakespeare is affected by self-love and, like all of the critics who propose an individual dedicatee, he has to accept the grammatical rigmarole that ensues. It is much more likely that ‘Mr. William himself’ is preferable to the formality of ‘Mr. William Shakespeare’, especially as the words to the reader are engaging and intimate. Hence the dedication to a relationship between the poet and his reader is accentuated in the desire for a reciprocal ‘well-wishing’ in the reader, and for this profoundly exploratory literature to be welcomed by an adventurous mind. Both in the poet and the reader comprehension is nourished by a good will, and Shakespeare must have been aware, too, of the necessity for a sense of enquiry corresponding to his own.

The ‘eternity promised by our ever-living poet’ is an allusion to the love poet of the Sonnets from 18 to 126, and here wit shades into irony – at Shakespeare’s own expense. The experience of ‘our ever-living poet’ ends badly for his desire for immortality, and so the muted tone of the dedication does not allow for any remarkable exception, however deeply it may be deserved.