The
Sonnets – Sonnets 78-86 “So oft have I invoked thee for my muse…”
Sonnet 78 introduces into Shakespeare’s Sonnets, the ‘character’
or ‘figure’ of the Rival Poet. The Rival Poet could be a fictional ‘character’
or could be a real poet or based on a real poet. The Rival Poet is evident and
the central subject of most of Sonnets 78-86. Within the world of Shakespeare’s
Sonnets, the Rival Poet is the antagonist, Shakespeare’s nemesis who is his
rival for fame, wealth, patronage and the artistic affections of the Fair
Youth. In Sonnet 78, he refers to the Rival Poet in very general terms as one
of what is assumed to be many alien pens.
Sonnet 78
“So oft have I invoked thee for my muse,
And found such fair assistance in my verse,
As every alien pen hath got my use,
And under thee their poesy disperse.
Thine eyes, that taught the dumb on high to sing,
And heavy ignorance aloft to fly,
Have added feathers to the learnèd’s wing
And given grace a double majesty.
Yet be most proud of that which I compile,
Whose influence is thine and born of thee.
In others' works thou dost but mend the style,
And arts with thy sweet graces gracèd be;
But thou art all my art, and dost advance
As high as learning my rude ignorance.”
In this sonnet, the poet is addressing the ‘fair youth’ who is the
subject of most of the previous sonnets. In the first quatrain, the poet begins
by reflecting on the fact that the youth has so often been the “muse” or inspiration for his
poetry but that now that has meant that many other poets or “every alien pen” is trying to “…under
thee their poesy disperse.” In this line the poet suggests that the other poets are
both dedicating their poetry to the young man and trying to present or put
their poetry to the Fair Youth. The poet is slightly derogatory towards the
poetry of the ‘alien pens’ because he refers to their verse as “poesy”. The second quatrain
moves on to praise the poet’s subject in hyperbolic terms claiming that the
youth’s eyes have taught the dumb to sing high musical notes and lifted “heavy
ignorance aloft to fly” and even helped learned people to achieve more through
adding “feathers to the learned’s wing” and made the graceful, well, more
graceful. In the third quatrain, the poet urges the youth to be most proud of
the verse which the poet himself compiles since the youth himself is the
influence and inspiration for this poet’s verse whereas other poet’s have their
ordinary verse’s style and art made better or “mended” by the youth’s “sweet
graces”.
The sonnet ends with a rhyming couplet with the poet putting himself down
claiming he is ignorant and has no skill at all but is lifted up “As high as
learning my rude ignorance” by the inspiration of the youth himself.
Here is a reading of Sonnet 78 done for Sonnet Project NYC in 2018. This one was done in Newark, NJ.
In
Sonnet 79, the poet gets more specific and refers to one other poet who has
obviously caught the eye and the fancy of the Fair Youth who has been his own
muse for so long. But the poet questions the merits of his rivals poetry or
puts down his Rival Poet stating that the Rival Poet “robs” the youth of his own
beauty which he puts into his verse to give back to the youth himself. The poet
ends by asking the youth to:
“Then
thank him not for that which he doth say,
Since
what he owes thee, thou thyself dost pay.”
Here is Sonnet 79 done as part of the Sonnet Project NYC.
Sonnet
80 continues the poet’s “putting down” of his rival by portraying himself as a
small boat sailing in the shallows while portraying his rival as a large
galleon sailing on the open sea. Sexual innuendo in the sonnet suggests mockery
of the Rival Poet.
Here is Sonnet 80 done by patrick Stewart on his 80th birthday done on July 13th 2020. https://twitter.com/SirPatStew/status/1282494876752531458
Here is Sonnet 80 read by Elizabeth Klett with a cello accompanied by Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.
In
Sonnet 81, the poet momentarily forgets about his rival and returns to the
tactic used in Sonnets 49, 63 and 77 of contemplating how his verse will
immortalize the ‘fair youth’:
“Or
I shall live your epitaph to make,
Or
you survive when I in earth am rotten,
From
hence your memory death cannot take,
Although
in me each part will be forgotten.
Your
name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though
I, once gone, to all the world must die:
The
earth can yield me but a common grave,
When
you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.
Your
monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which
eyes not yet created shall o'er-read;
And
tongues to be your being shall rehearse,
When
all the breathers of this world are dead;
You
still shall live, such virtue hath my pen,
Where
breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men.”
Here is Sonnet 81 performed by Andrew Joshi of the Jermyn Street Theatre.
Here is Sir Ian McKellan reading Sonnet 81 in COVID 19 isolation in 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws7MDDhF_3Y&list=PLLLiEya-Q4RQdTJb97i8gU6MXHZs_HUlB&index=62&t=0s
Sonnet
82 returns to address the Rival Poet or even rival poets and the poet tells the
youth that he is being misled by them and allowing himself to give into mere
flattery. The comparison is drawn to painting. The poet suggests that the youth
is so fair that he is better rendered by the poet’s own “true plain words”.
Here is Lori Nicholson reading Sonnet 82 as part of the the Jermyn Street Theatre Sonnet Project.
The allegory of
painting is again used by the poet in Sonnet 83 when he suggests that the youth
does not need “painting” or flattery since:
“There
lives more life in one of your fair eyes
Than
both your poets can in praise devise.”
Here is Sonnet 83 filmed for the Sonnet Project NYC. This one is done in Texas.
Then
in Sonnet 84, we see the ground of the argument against the Rival Poet shift
slightly in what is a rich and sometimes obscure poem. This sonnet ultimately
expresses the sentiment that all poetry is just an empty shell in trying to
represent reality but that the Rival Poet’s poetry is particularly worthless
and empty because it seeks to deceive and flatter.
Here is Sonnet 84 performed by Chirag Benedict Lobo as part of the Jermyn Street Theatre Sonnet Project:
Sonnet 85 is almost an existential poem which would not be out of
place in a Samuel Beckitt play since the poet states, “I can say nothing…” yet continues to write
and claiming his higher thoughts cannot be expressed in words and what he can
express is that the words of other poets are superficial and without meaning. Here is a video of Sonnet 85 performed by Alice Bailey Johnson as part of the Jermyn Street Theatre Project:
Sonnet 86 is the last sonnet that directly deals with the Rival
Poet. The poet uses questions directly addressed to his subject the Fair Youth
to question why the Rival Poet has attracted the attention and affection of the
youth. The imagery of sailing is again employed and the Rival Poet is compared
to a fleet or armada of galleons in full sail. The poet then derides the Rival
Poet suggesting that he uses supernatural forces (this and the other
descriptions seem to suggest that the Rival Poet is George Chapman) and while
the poet himself suggests the Rival Poet’s verse is superior to his, the
magnificence of the imagery, sentiment and poetic devices in this sonnet along
with the self-depreciating tone of this sonnet serves to make the poet/speaker
ultimately shine bright and immortalize Shakespeare above the obscure pitch of
his poetic rival:
“Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,
Bound for the prize of all too precious you,
That did my ripe thoughts in my brain inhearse,
Making their tomb the womb wherein they grew?
Was it his spirit, by spirits taught to write
Above a mortal pitch, that struck me dead?
No, neither he, nor his compeers by night
Giving him aid, my verse astonished.
He, nor that affable familiar ghost
Which nightly gulls him with intelligence,
As victors of my silence cannot boast;
I was not sick of any fear from thence:
But when your countenance filled up his line,
Then lacked I matter; that enfeebled mine.”
Here is an analysis and reading of Sonnet 86 from Linda Sue Grimes on Owlocation:
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