Sonnet 126 - Reading Between The Lines

Reading Between The Lines

Sonnet 126 O Thou my lovely Boy who in thy power, Doest hould times fickle glasse,his sickle,hower: Who hast by wayning growne,and therein shou’st, Thy lovers withering,as thy sweet selfe grow’st. If Nature(souveraine misteres over wrack) As thou goest onwards still will plucke thee backe, She keepes thee to this purpose,that her skill. May time disgrace,and wretched mynuit kill. Yet feare her O thou minnion of her pleasure, She may detaine,but not still keepe her tresure! Her Audite(though delayd)answer’d must be, And her Quietus is to render thee. ( ) ( )

In 2011, David Ewald, in an unpublished paper entitled: 'Shake-speares Sonnets, Sonnet 126', presented the following solution to the final two lines of Sonnet 126, as defined by a pair of parentheses in the 1609 imprint (this section is only a portion of all of the evidence presented in said paper).

Parentheses are defined as a word, phrase, or sentence, by way of comment or explanation, inserted in, or attached to, a sentence, which would be grammatically complete without it.

It is likely that these pair of parentheses were intentionally placed with all of the purpose that parentheses are normally intended for, empty though they are, as this mysterious usage is in keeping with the overall secretive aspect of the Sonnet sequence.

The fact that there are four pairs of parentheses in the 1609 imprint of Shake-speares Sonnet 126 appears to have gone entirely unnoticed by the critics. It also appears that the practice of “reading between the lines” has not been detected here either. This form of writing was quite common in Shakespeare’s time according to the renowned crime detective author, Archer Mayor. Mayor, also a death investigator for Vermont’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and a detective for the Windham County Sheriff’s Office, has substantiated what can also be described as “see through the page alignments of text” for this time period (early 17th Century). Archer Mayor’s website may be perused further for his credentials as an authority on this opinion: http://www.archermayor.com/.

There is no more obvious place in the 1609 imprint to “read between the lines” than in Sonnet 126. A careful inspection of the two blank pairs of parentheses that end this sonnet reveals the image of text from the reverse side of the page that looks like this:

( ,tsurt ot ton,lleurc,edur,ema)ertxe,egavaS ( ,thgiarts desipsid tub reno)os on dyoinI

It is remarkable that this text from Sonnet 129 fits so well within the space provided between the parentheses as revealed by the following diagram:

(Savage,extreame,rude,cruell,not to trust,) (Inioyd no sooner but dispised straight, )

The first alignment shows an astounding perfect fit, with the second one very nearly duplicating the first.

What is even more remarkable is how the four pairs of parentheses, with this alignment, complement each other in their intention, as shown in the following diagram:

(souveraine misteres over wrack) (though delayd) (Savage,extreame,rude,cruell,not to trust,) (Inioyd no sooner but dispised straight, )

Nature’s role as the “souveraine misteres over wrack” could not be more aptly described than “savage,extreame,rude,cruell,not to trust” and “though delayed” she is “inioyd no sooner but dispised straight” in that role.

Shakespeare's plays are replete with short parenthetical asides to the audience, suggestive of the speaker's inner designs that forewarn the audience of delayed malice. This solution to these blank pairs of parentheses are of that same nature, and when applied to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and his demise at the hands of Nature at Bergen-op-Zoom, along with his son James, prove to be most prophetic, should he be proved to be the 'fair youth' of the Sonnets (the hidden message device used here may be the same device used to hide the identity of that same 'fair youth').

Helen Vendler believes that "the boy whose power is apparently celebrated at the outset is, at the end, a rendered minion, the creature of a minute. The speaker's voice--apparently, at the beginning, the voice of indulgent love--is by "Q3" the voice of Time itself, speaking the discourse of necessity: the audit "answered must be." Rarely has a speaker's voice so altered toward its love-object in the course of twelve short lines.". This dramatic alteration by the speaker purposefully continues covertly to its final ending, as the proposed ending suggested above would be too harsh to be simply revealed, it must be sought out and discovered in a form that may be more easily contemplated, as shadows of text juxtaposed to the confines of their rightful place.

See the following two links to the Folger Shakespeare Library for views of the 1609 imprint of Sonnets 126 and 129:

http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~216909~113837?qvq=q

http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~216919~113838?qvq=q

See also "A Lover's Complaint", for another example of "reading between the lines".