The Dark Lady in Sonnet 144
Henry David Gray writes on the complexity of views that readers have taken while contemplating the Sonnets. There are the Southamptonites who date the sonnets from 1592–1596, believe the first 125 sonnets to be in chronological order, the dark lady being Elizabeth Vernon, and the Rival Poet to be Drayton. Gray continues with the next group of critics being Pembrokists, dating the sonnets from 1598 to 1603, the dark lady being Mary Fitton, and the Rival Poet being Chapman. Gray believes, following with Sir Sidney Lee, that the Sonnet are literary exercises, it is important to figure who the dark lady is, that W.H. is not the youth addressed in the first 125 sonnets, the sonnets are in no chronological order, and he had no idea who the rival poet was. Gray proclaims his view, “I am a free lance among the Sonnets’ critics with a special set of conjectures all my own; though I do agree with Butler that that W.H. is William Hughes, with Acheson that the Dark Lady is Mistress Davanant, and with Montmorency that the Rival Poet is Spenser,.
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