Shakespeare and the Rival Poet Author:George Chapman, Arthur Acheson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. AN ANALYSIS OF THORPE'S ARRANGEMENT OF THE SONNETS. The order which Thorpe used in his issue of the Sonnets, in 1609, is still generally recog... more »nized as correct by Shakespearean critics. I may, therefore, be deemed presumptuous in assailing that which has been so long accepted without question; however, after many years of interested and analytic study of the Sonnets, I am forced to take issue against the infallibility of Thorpe's arrangement. The regard in which this arrangement has been held has arisen largely from the fact that Thorpe issued the Sonnets during the poet's life, and, therefore, possibly with his cognizance or under his supervision. I am fully convinced, and believe I can give fairly conclusive proof, that Shakespeare had no hand in their arrangement or publication. Someone has said that, if one Sonnet can be shown to be out of its place and away from its context, the whole value of Thorpe's order is at once destroyed. I shall adduce several very plain instances where this is the case, and yet I admit a very great sequential value for his arrangement. In order to properly estimate this value, it is necessary to understand the conditions under which Thorpe produced his edition. I believe I shall clearly show that many of the Sonnets were written previous to 1595, and that the period of the production of the whole series antedates 1601. As the Sonnets were not published till 1609, they were, then, held in manuscript for from ten to fifteen years. We know that the Sonnets were produced at different times during a period of at least three years. In the io8th Shakespeare says: " What's in the brain that ink may character, Which hath not figured to thee my true spirit? What's new to speak, what new to register, That may express my love, o...« less