Comments
Sonnets editor
Stephen Booth remarks that “something more [than phallic
innuendo] appears to be operating” in Sonnet 85 and that “the
regularity with which pens appear in…obscure contexts suggests…some
lost pun….” The missing “r” in “Cha[r]ter”—in
“five…surviving copies”—draws Booth’s conclusion:
“obviously a misprint for Charter in the other eight.”
Finding the Runes
helps rationalize some previously obscure wit in Will’s overt cycle.
The convergence here in Rune 87 does just that.
Here line 1 puns, “Reserve
th’ ‘r’ character with golden quill,” and the
“r” is indeed “held back” two lines later, where
the pun “…Cha ter…gives the ‘r’ leave….”
occurs. Cha ter puns on “chatter,” idle talk, while
“golden quill” (1) suggests “ideal pen”—whose
letters lack materiality. (The saw “silence is golden” is
a likely instigator here.) “Charter,” meanwhile, echoes “Character”
in 1. Overall, the play shows authorization of a minimal detail that Thomas
Thorpe—Will’s known printing agent, the man who signed Q’s
cryptic dedication—was to execute. Reinforcing puns include “A
pun, this idea” (4) and “low Will-sty may still seem low tome,
though alter’d…” (8-9). Will’s childish joke illustrates
“a spirit of youth” (14) and contrasts with “ideal reserve.”
“Budding” (11) links with “spirit of youth” (14).
More generally,
the rune rationalizes necessity; puts the best face on the muse’s
behavior and flatters (while criticizing) him; and denigrates the poet’s
own verse.
References to
writing occur overtly (1-2) and in such puns as “re-leafing”
(3)—rewriting, reprinting, and applying gold leaf—and “my
lameness” (5), a reference to bad metrical feet (OED 1600).
The motif of
theatrical performance is implicit in “character”
(1, punning “see here actor”); “inhearse” (1);
“speak” (5) and the idea of awkward movement; “make
me bow” (6); “…themselves as stone” (10, suggesting
“wooden” acting); “thy budding name” (11, sluggesting
“rising star”); and “dais (day’s; Dis = hellish)
scene” (13)—maybe pointing to Othello because it
follows the pun “loved oaf [i.e., groundling] Moor and lass”
(12). A costuming motif includes “garments…” (7), “bow[-ribbon]”
(6), “no longer,” “stay” (8), “seam,”
“altered” (9), “spot,” “grays and faults
[seams],” “heavy felt,” “dark” (11-13),
and maybe the pun lamé (5, from L).
Wit about weddings
may include the idea of “choosing sides” in the church: “Upon
thy side, against myself I’ll sit” (4). The phallic “quill”
(1) that Booth notes has its counterpart in “Hath. puta,
aye ‘spired’” (14). “Hath. put a spear-head
of youth in every thing” is Anne-berating bawdry.
Other puns include “Reserve
theories here as to our wit” (1); “Hat. did me rape, th’
haughty sin, maybe our Annie nears” (2); “hated idiom here
eye, petty, haughty sign (sin) may be a rune” (2); “Upon this
hide [i.e., parchment], again Shakespeare [= ft, the name cipher,
an s “‘shaking’ a spear-like t], ms.-elf
ill, sight” (4); “Speak of m’ leman S., Anne; die, Straight
Will” (5); “vagina is angled ill” (7); “thou genie
W.S. eye in glade, ill and alive no longer” (7-8); “God here
soured hymn (...soured himself, says Shakespeare[= st] wan)”(10);
and “...eye knave writhing” (14).
The string
S…/I…/S…/A…/May… (5-9) suggests
“Sesam[e],” pointing to the seedlike colons [:] ending lines
3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14; thus signalled, this “coloned” string—“…releasing:
…halt: …ill: …new: …lesse: …thing:”—may
encode phallic bawdry, with the “seedy” colon a suggestive
pictograph. One reading of this hidden minicode is, “Releasing,
[Dr.] Hall, till [i.e., ‘plow’] new lass th’ inch.”
The arcane play “Open, Sesame” dates from 1785 (OED). Dr.
John Hall was Will’s son-in-law, a Stratford physician whom much
of the wit in Q (including the prefatory dedication to Mr. W [=IN]. H.all...)
seems to point toward.
Sample Puns
1)
Reserve theories here as to our wit; ass tirrit; jewel den, queue
ill; Revered Harry, see here, satyr with golden quill; witty Jew, leaden
ink ill; high, reach Harry’s turd; harass; quail [prostitute]
1-2)
iniquity [l=i]; th’ jeweled Anne, queue aye led; quilted, aye demure,
I peed; Harry…with golden-quilled hat, dyed, mirror
2)
Hat did me rape, th’ haughty sin, maybe our Annie nears
2) hated
idiom here eye, petty, haughty sign (sin); enemy Berowne inhearse; John,
Hera (Hero, Eros) see
2-3)
Neighing Harry, see, the chatter oft you hoard (heard); see this hatter’s
thigh; inhearsed, “hacked” Eros t’ you oared
3)
This “Hatteras” to you earth gives t’ hear; re-leafing
3-4)
Jew Pontius eyed again; Jew benights eye
4) A
pun; Upon thy side, aging (itching) Shakespeare [ft], myself;
Upon this hide, again Shakespeare, ms.-elf ill, sight; Shakespeare missal’s
ill sight; Upon thy feet [cf. lameness (5)]
4-5)
eye deacon’s fit, missal see; eye Dagon’s Tommy, cell feel,
sigh,’tis pee
5) pique
o’ simile (Semele) eye; my lay, mincing (menacing), dies; mélee;
an ass, eying Dis (Deus), tried Will; Speak of m’ leman
S., Anne; eye Straight Will
5-6) Hall,
twin you eyed; I jet, will Hall t’ join this
6)
th’ ass pity, oaf sore (…begat oaf); June; bough; bow
6-7) you
name “Ache” my bosom; you name a key, amoeba so mean t’
Harry; ache my boys [bois, hautbois], Omen t’ jeer (Amen’d
Harry); my boy saw Mentor (Minotaur), germane t’ Southy; German
7) thou
genie W.S. eye in glade; regiment is to hone you; So men tarry, jar, men
tease th’ O
7-8) single,
Dillon delays no longer; vagina is angled ill, Anne deals an “O”
longer than thy love will stay; thin; Anne…low Will Shakespeare
eye
8) handle
I see no longer; “handle” I see in “O”—longer,
thin—till [i.e., plow] “O” (you will fit aye)
8-9) gardened
hill of Will is Tommy’s till; ill, oval is Tommy’s till
9) May
stills a mellow tome, th’ O huge, altered new; ill female of Tommy’d
huge awl tear; thou Hall turd knew
9-10) you
home of John got here
10) hearse-art
hymns elves’ asses’ tone; God here soured hymn
11) th’
spotty bawdy o’ hymn hie; Tybalt, dying, name; thy budding name
suggests “Wriothesley” [pron. Rose-ley]
12) Moor and
lass [suggesting Othello, Desdemona]; the gray scene defaults, airy, low;
Ariel; Ovid owes m’ “O” roundelays
12-13) owe
Randall’s ass. What ass?
13) W.H.,
adder, Kyd eyes; Kyd eyes F., Nate, puta’s pirate; What
of reason? Joseph aye felt W.H. at dark; Isolde, weighty ark, dais seen;
W [a pudendal pictograph] Hat.-freezings have I felt (heavy as hell, too)
14) Hath
puta, a “spired ‘O’”; Hath puta is
pirate of youth and every thing; …John, you’re writhing (rioting)!
tough pirate’s you, thin your writing; in Eve riding; eye knave
wry t’ hang; eye knave writhing
Acrostic Wit
The
downward acrostic codelines—R TT VSIS A MW DBWH—suggests
such readings as these: “Heart uses a mute boy,” “Our
T.T. vs. a mute boy,” “Hard (Red), you seized a mewed boy,”
“Arts easy (Our tedious eyes) mewed boy,” “Rites I say,
am wed boy (bois = wood = crazy),” “Art you seize,
a mewed bow,” “Read you ‘Sis,’ ‘Ham,’
wood [i.e., crazy] be W.H.,” “Hard [phallic] you seize, a
mute boy,” and “Rites I say, am wed boy (bois = wood
= crazy).”
Numeric
readings include this sample: “Arty, V is aye 5:00 A.M. Attend [W
= VV = phonic ten] date [B=8], W.H.” The opening code elements
RTT also suggest “Hard...” and “Err, T.T.....”
The
reverse (upward) code—HW BD WM ASIS V TT R—suggests,
e.g., “You bid Wm. assist you, T.T., err,” “You bid
Wm. aye seize udder,” “You bed Wm., a sister,” and “H.W.,
bed Wm., as a suitor.”
One hairpin
(i.e., the down/up) acrostic letterstring encodes, e.g., “Ere
[i.e., Before] T.T. uses a moody boy, you bid Wm. assist you, T.T., e’er
[i.e., always],” with plays on “...err.” Enticing terms
adumbrated in the acrostic codeline include début, Swede,
sweeter, sister, sweeter, and assister. “W.H.” and “H.W.”
always suggest Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, Will’s
only known patron, while T.T. is shorthand for Thomas Thorpe, Will’s
printing agent.
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