The Sonnets and Other Poems Read Online Free PDF Page A

durability of poetry are also pervasive.
    TEXTS: The well-printed 1593 Quarto of
Venus and Adonis
was reprinted in 1594, 1595?, 1596, 1599, 1599, 1602?, 1602, 1602, 1617, making it by a considerable margin Shakespeare’s bestseller in print. The well-printed 1594 Quarto of
Lucrece
was a little less popular but still much in demand (reprinted 1598, 1600, 1600, 1607, 1616).
The Passionate Pilgrim
appeared in a small Octavo edition (title page lost) sometime after September 1598; a second edition was published in 1599; poems 1 and 2 are versions of sonnets subsequently published in the 1609 collection; the three other definitely Shakespearean poems are from
Love’s Labour’s Lost
; a reprint of 1612 included additional poems by Thomas Heywood, a practice to which Heywood and apparently Shakespeare objected. “To the Queen” remained in manuscript until 1972. “Let the Bird of Loudest Lay” was included in
LOVES MARTYR OR, ROSALINS COMPLAINT. Allegorically shadowing the truth of Loue, in the constant Fate of the Phoenix and Turtle
(1601), a verse collection dedicated to Sir John Salusbury, which included work by John Marston, George Chapman, and Ben Jonson appended to a long allegorical poem by the little-known Robert Chester; Shakespeare’s contribution is untitled and only became generally known as “The Phoenix and Turtle” (i.e. turtledove) from 1807.
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS. Never before Imprinted
was published in 1609, with “A Louers complaint. BY WILLIAM SHAKE-SPEARE” filling up the final leaves. Littered with printing errors, it was little noticed upon publication and not reprinted. In 1640, John Benson published a collection of
Poems: Written by Wil. Shake-speare. Gent
., mainly based on the 1609 volume, but with considerable additions and alterations, including occasional regendering of the addressee from male to female. The sonnets and poems did not enter the tradition of “Complete Works” of Shakespeare until Edmond Malone edited them for his supplement to the 1778 Samuel Johnson/George Steevens edition.

THE SONNETS AND
OTHER POEMS

“TO THE QUEEN”
    As the dial 1 hand tells o’er
The same hours it had before,
Still beginning in the ending,
Circular account still lending,
So, most mighty Queen we pray,
Like the dial day by day
You may lead the seasons on,
Making new when old are gone,
That the babe which now is young
And hath yet no use of tongue
Many a Shrovetide 11 here may bow
To that empress I do now,
That the children of these lords,
Sitting at your council boards 14 ,
May be grave and agèd seen
Of her that was their fathers’ queen.
Once I wish this wish again,
Heaven subscribe it with ‘Amen’.

TEXTUAL NOTES
VENUS AND ADONIS
    Q = First Quarto text of 1593
    Q2 = a correction introduced in the Second Quarto text of 1594
    Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
    185 Souring = Q
(
So wring
)
193 shines but = Q
corrected by hand in unique copy to
shineth but 198 earthly = Q
corrected by hand in unique copy to
this earthly 231 deer
spelled
deare
in
Q 325 chafing = Q. Ed = chasing 466 love = Q. Ed = loss 654 air = Q. Ed = earth 748 th’impartial = Q2. Q = the th’impartiall 754 sons = Q2. Q = suns 832 deeply = Q. Ed = doubly 873 twined = Q
(
twin’d
)
. Ed = twine 962 the = Q. Ed = her 1031 are = Q. Ed = as 1054 had = Q. Ed = was 1095 sung = Ed. Q = song 1113 did = Q. Q2 = would
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE
    Q = First Quarto text of 1594
    Q
(uncorrected)
= uncorrected version of this edition
    Q
(corrected)
= corrected version of this edition
    Q2 = a correction introduced in the Second Quarto text of 1598
    Ed = a correction introduced by a later editor
    THE RAPE OF LUCRECE = Q
(poem header and running header, but just
LUCRECE
on title page)
21 peer = Q. Q2 = prince 24 morning’s = Q
(corrected)
. Q
(uncorrected)
= morning 31 apology = Q
(uncorrected)
. Q
(corrected)
= Apologies 48 repentant = Q. Ed = repentance 50 Collatium = Q
(uncorrected)
. Q
(corrected)
= Colatia 77 in = Q. Ed = o’er 125