Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 88, April, 1875Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 88, April, 1875
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
It is impossible to bring up separately, in a single article, the items
contained in a volume of 603 pages, so we must be content to leave Mr.
Massey's theory with these meagre allusions to its principal statements,
and pass on to that of Mr. Charles Armitage Brown. Upholding the opinion
that the Sonnets are autobiographical, he maintains that they are in
reality not sonnets, but poems in the sonnet stanza, there being but
three sonnets, properly so called, in the series. The poems are six in
number, terminating each with an appropriate _envoi_, and are addressed,
the first five to the poet's friend, "W.H.," and the sixth to his
mistress. That friend must have been very young, very handsome, of high
birth and fortune; and to all this the description of William Herbert
exactly answers. The divisions made by Mr. Brown are as follows: First
poem, 1 to 26--to his friend, persuading him to marry. Second poem, 27
to 55--to his friend, who had robbed the poet of his mistress, forgiving
him. Third poem, 56 to 77--to his friend, complaining of his coldness,
and warning him of life's decay. Fourth poem, 78 to 101--to his friend,
complaining that he prefers another poet's praises, and reproving him
for faults that may injure his character. Fifth poem, 102 to 126--to his
friend, excusing himself for having been some time silent, and
disclaiming the charge of inconstancy. Sixth poem, 127 to 152--to his
mistress, on her infidelity. In this last poem, says Mr. Brown,
we find the whole tenor to be "hate of my sin grounded on sinful
loving." However the poet may waver, and for the moment seem to return
to his former thralldom, indignation at the faithlessness of his
mistress and at her having been, through treachery, the cause of his
estrangement from a friend, at the last completely conquers his sinful
loving. "For myself," continues Mr. Brown, "I confess I have not the
heart to blame him at all, purely because he so keenly reproaches
himself for his own sin and folly. Fascinated as he was, he did not,
like other poets similarly guilty, directly or by implication obtrude
his own passions on the world as reasonable laws. Had such been the
case, he might have merited our censure, possibly our contempt."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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