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| The four volume set William Shakespeare's Sonnet Philosophy is now available. |
SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS
From fairest creatures we desire increase,In the original 1609 edition of Shake-speares Sonnets, the first sonnet does not have a number. As all the other sonnets from 2 to 154 are numbered, it is possible Shakespeare left the number off the first sonnet to acknowledge the numerology of the set that establishes the logical relationship between Nature as a unity, and the Mistress and Master Mistress. The absence of a number from the first sonnet draws attention to the role of Nature and the Mistress and Master Mistress as the structural entities that establish the logical preconditions for the content of the individual sonnets within the set. The arguments and evidence presented in Volume 1 establish that the complete set represents Nature and the two sub-sequences represent the Mistress and the Master Mistress or the female and male. The complete set of 154 sonnets as Nature has a numerological value of 1 (154 = 1+5+4 = 10 = 1+0 = 1), and the 28 sonnets of the Mistress sequence has a numerological value of 1 (28 = 2+8 = 10 = 1+0 = 1). As the objective of the Poet in the Master Mistress sequence is to restore youth to its unity, the number 1 has a significant role in the logical structure of the set. If the logical structuring provided by the complete set as Nature and its two sub-sequences as female and male is ignored, it is not possible to determine the meaning of the first sonnet or any of the subsequent sonnets. The failure of 400 years of Sonnet interpretation to understand the Sonnets is due to an inability or unwillingness to appreciate the significance of the logical preconditions for determining the meaning of individual sonnets. Once the logical significance of the overall structuring of the set as Nature and the sexual division in Nature is accepted, the content of the first sonnet with its theme of increase becomes apparent. Because increase is the logical condition consequent on sexual division in Nature, it should not be surprising that the 14 sonnets that present the increase argument occur at the beginning of the set. So the first sonnet both looks back to the structural logic of the principal elements of the set and looks forward in its role as the first sonnet within the complete set. It is also the first sonnet of the Master Mistress sequence and the first of the 14 increase sonnets. As the first sonnet of the complete set, it introduces the principal condition for the persistence of both female and male. In introducing the Master Mistress sequence, it states the conditions the youth must conform to in order to gain a consistent understanding of truth and beauty. And, as the first sonnet of the increase sonnets it introduces the increase argument for the benefit of the youth. The connection to the priority of the logical structure of the complete set and its sequences is made in the first line of the first sonnet. The logical theme of the 14 sonnets is confirmed by the mention of the word �increase� in the first line (1.1). The increase argument is then sustained for 14 sonnets culminating in sonnet 14, which gives the logical relationship between increase (as �store�) and �truth and beauty�. The theme of truth and beauty is twice heralded in the last lines of sonnet 14 (14.11,14). Once the logical structure of Nature and the sexual dynamic within Nature is established in the organisation of the complete set and the 14 increase sonnets, the remaining 140 sonnets examine the implications for truth and beauty or human understanding. While the logic of the truth and beauty dynamic is explored in the commentaries on sonnets 15 onward, the dynamic gets a preliminary introduction in the first two lines of the first sonnet. The word �fairest� combines the sense of both beauty and judgment, and the phrase �beauty�s Rose� combines both the sense of singular beauty and the potential of the Rose, with its petals and thorns, to be contrary. The absence of the word �truth� from these lines, and from all the increase sonnets until the last few lines of sonnet 14, is a logical consequence of the sensory nature of the increase or sexual dynamic. Shakespeare deliberately uses the word increase because it best expresses the logical requirement that human persistence is necessary for the survival of humankind beyond the present generation. The word persistence is used here to convey the determination required for humankind to continue in existence in the face of beliefs that prioritise eschatology or the concern with death, judgment, heaven and hell over the sexual dynamic in Nature. As every person is born of parents, it is logical that the next generations be formed through the dynamic of increase. Consistent with his logic, sonnet 3 mentions that the youth had a mother and sonnet 13 that he had a father. The implication is that every person is logically part of the increase dynamic even if they are unable or unwilling to have children. So, the first two lines of the first sonnet both acknowledge the external structure of the Sonnets and introduce the principal themes examined in the 154 sonnets. Even the mythic relationship between the erotic (�desire�) and the sexual (�increase�) is foreshadowed. The �content� (1.11) of the complete set is evident in the first sonnet. But the immediate role of the sonnet is to introduce the increase argument. The Poet, then, argues that the youth should increase so �beauty�s Rose might never die� (1.2). As the youth�s �ripeness� decreases, he should produce an �heir� to bear his �memory� (1.4). The youth is presented with the natural logic of life, but his ability to appreciate it is affected by his idealistic selfconcern. He is �contracted to (his) own bright eyes� as he feeds his own flame with �self substantial fuel� (1.6). A typical excessive idealist, he generates contradictions that make �famine where abundance lies� and ends up being a �cruel� foe to himself (1.8). The image of the �Rose� (which is capitalised throughout Q) is symbolic of the logic of beauty or sensations. The first sonnet also introduces the image of �thine ... eyes� whose logical function is articulated in sonnet 14. Commentators ignorant of the logical function of the eyes in the Sonnets unnecessarily interfere with the meanings of critical words associated with eyes. The youth should be the world�s fresh ornament that �heralds the gaudy spring� (1.9). Instead, he buries his �content� in his �bud� (or penis), and so �makes waste in niggarding� (1.12). In this first sonnet, Shakespeare identifies the generative relation between the potential to increase and the �content� of his verse. The word �content� is used again in the set to refer to the mythic quality in Shakespeare�s verse that distinguishes it from that of other poets (55.3 and 74.13). In the couplet, the Poet warns that the youth should �pity the world� or else his self gluttony will eat what is the �world�s due� and become the �grave� for humanity. The logic of the increase argument applies not to any particular youth but to the consequences of adolescent idealism when they are universalised. In the Sonnets, increase is the primary means to immortality, on which other forms of gaining immortality, such as art, are based. So, the first sonnet argues that the youth should appreciate the signifi- cance of increase if he is to understand the �content� of the Poet�s verse. It presents the logical argument that without increase there will be a famine of �fair creatures�, because the �gluttony� of self-regard will lead not to abundance but to a �grave� for all.
118-129 130-141 142-153 154 Emendations |
