1
[Soveraigns since the Conquest: Norman  Plantagenet  Lancaster  York]
1337-1453 : Hundred Years' War
1455-1485 : War of Two Roses
House of Tudor
Henry VIII
Edward VI
Mary:
Elizabeth
1509-1547
1547-1553
1553-1558
1558-1603
[1537 1553 10 y.o. in 1547]
*
House of Stuart
James I
1603-1625
Charles I
1625-1649
Commonwealth
1649
[1653: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector]
Charles II
1660
Restoration
James II
1685-1688
William III & Mary II 1689-1702
*
Henry VIII’s wives
11 June 1509
Catherine of Aragon [d. 8 gen 1536]
→ Mary
25 January 1533
Anne Boleyn
[giustiziata 19 mag 1536] → Elizabeth
20 or 30 May 1536 Jane Seymour
[muore di parto]
→ Edward VI
6 January 1540
Anne of Clèves
[matrimonio annullato]
28 July 1540
Catherine Howard
[of Norfolk, giustiziata 13 feb. 1542]
12 July 1543
Catherine Parr
*
Main periods of English Literature
Old English (or Anglo-Saxon) Period : c. 450  c.1066
Middle English Period : c. 1066  c. 1550 [Early Modern Period : c.1450  1660]
The Renaissance : c. 1500  c. 1660
- Elizabethan Age : 15581603
- Jacobean Age : 16031625
- Caroline Age : 16261649
- Commonwealth Period : 16491660
Neoclassical Period : c. 1660  c. 1800
- The Restoration : 16601700
- Augustan Age : c. 1700  c. 1745
- Age of Sensibility : c. 1745  c. 1800
[Enlightenment]
Romantic Period : c. 1790  c. 1830
Victorian Period : 1832 1901
Edwardian Period : 1901 1914
Modern Period : c. 1914 
*
William Caxton (c. 1422–91) printed the first book in English in 1474
Catholic / Anglican / Puritan
2
- 1534: Act of Supremacy (T. Cromwell; Episcopal see of Canterbury)
- 1553 : Act of Uniformity – (new) Book of Common Prayer – The Forty-two Articles
(of religion): all imbued with strong Calvinist inclinations
- Mary : Reconciliation with Rome
- 1559: Elizabeth re-established the Act of Uniformity and the Book of Common
Prayer
- 1571: The Thirty-nine Articles (a revision of The Forty-two Articles, made at
Elizabeth’s request; they reflect Protestant, Calvinist, and also Catholic positions
- 1595: The Lambeth Articles (Un. of Cambridge) were issued to regulate some
doctrinal controversies about Predestination, but they had not the Queen’s sanction
and had to be abandoned, or kept as a private belief
*
Types of Puritans
Separatist / Congregationalist / Indipendent Puritans: believers should
covenant together, outside of the Anglican Church; they sought the dissolution of the
Church of England
Anglican Puritans / Episcopalists: the bishops may remain in place, but the
Church had to be purged from any trace of "Popery"
Presbyterian Puritans: wanted to get rid of the bishops and institute a
Presbyterian system, in the wake of the church organization envisaged in Scotland by
John Knox (1505–1572). King James VI (who became James I at the death of
Elizabeth) then moved the Church of Scotland towards an episcopal form of
government
[www.apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-lambeth-articles/]
*
The Lambeth Articles contemplated:
1. The eternal election of some to life, and the reprobation of others to death.
2. The moving cause of predestination to life is not the foreknowledge of faith and
good works, but only the good pleasure of God.
3. The number of the elect is unalterably fixed.
4. Those who are not predestinated to life shall necessarily be damned for their
sins.
5. The true faith of the elect never fails finally nor totally.
6. A true believer, or one furnished with justifying faith, has a full assurance and
certainty of remission and everlasting salvation in Christ.
7. Saving grace is not communicated to all men.
8. No man can come to the Son unless the Father shall draw him, but all men are
not drawn by the Father.
9. It is not in every one’s will and power to be saved.
[apuritansmind.com/creeds-and-confessions/the-lambeth-articles/]
3
Thomas Smith, De Republica Anglorum: A Discourse on the Commonwealth
of England (1906), L. Alston (ed.), Cambridge: Cup. (text of 1583)
Sir Thomas Smith (1513-1577)
De Republica Anglorum: written between 1562 and 1566; Smith was then in
France, as Elizabeth’s ambassador
Smith distinguishes four classes in English society, in imitation of republican and
imperial Roman models:
- gentlemen
- citizens and burgesses
- yeomen
- the fourth sort of men which doe not rule (Alston ed., 1906, p. 46).
Smith includes all types of nobles − the maior nobilitas and the minor nobilitas in
the class of the gentlemen; then he ranks the bourgeois and mercantile classes,
followed by the yeomen, the landed gentry of not aristocratic origins; the last class is
composed of all those who «have no voice nor authoritie in our common wealth, and
no account is made of them but onelie to be ruled, not to rule other», although they
may be sometimes appointed to certain offices, especially in villages, «for default of
yeomen».
1. gentlemen
maior nobilitas: «Dukes, marquises, erles, vicountes, and barrons, either be
created of the prince or come to that honor by being the eldest sonnes, or highest in
succession to their parentes» (p. 31).
minor nobilitas «The knights, esquires, and other gentlemen» (p. 34).
2. citizens and burgesses
«Next to gentlemen, be appointed citizens and burgesses, such as not onely be free
and received as officers within the cities, but also be of some substance to beare the
charges» (pp. 41-42).
3. yeomen
«A freeman borne English, and may dispend of his owne free lande in yerely
revenue to the summe of xl. s. sterling […] This sort of people confesse themselves to
be no gentlemen, but give honour to al which be or take upon them to be gentlemen,
and yet they have a certaine preheminence and more estimation than laborers and
artificers, and commonly live welthilie, keepe good houses, do their businesse, and
travaile to acquire riches» (p. 42).
4. men which doe not rule
«The fourth sort or classe amongest us, is of those which the olde Romans called
capite censij proletarij or operœ, day labourers, poore husbandmen, yea marchantes
or retailers which have no free lande, copiholders, all artificers, as Taylers,
Shoomakers, Carpenters, Brickemakers, Bricklayers, Masons, &c. […] And in villages
they be commonly made Churchwardens, alecunners, and manie times Constables,
which office toucheth more the common wealth, and at the first was not imployed
uppon such lowe and base persons» (p. 46). An alecunner (aleconner) was an
examiner or inspector of ale.
[The administration of the common wealth, of the state, is therefore reserved to
the first three classes, with some participation, if necessary, of the fourth class. The
majority of the population, the common people, is excluded de jure from public office.]
4
The English Bible(s)
- Old Testament : originally in Hebrew
- New Testament : originally in Greek
First translation of the Bible: Septuagint Bible, III century B.C. (Old Testament)
from the original Hebrew to Greek
- from the Septuagint translation and from the original Greek of the New Testament
were made the old Latin Translations
- between 383 and 405 A.D. St. Jerome prepares his Latin Vulgate checking his
Latin from the Greek and Hebrew; it remained the Bible of the West
English Bibles
- late seventh century: Caedmon, a monk of Whitby is said to have made a metrical
paraphrase of parts of Scripture; other Old English paraphrases exist
- First English translations of the whole Bible: John Wycliff (1330-1384) and his
Lollard followers produce two entire translations:
1. 1380-84, literal
2. 1390’s, more free an vigorous
[1522: Luther’s German translation]
William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536, Protestant, burned with Henry VIII’s approval)
1525 (printed in Germany in 1526): translates the New Testament and parts of
the Old; profound influence on all subsequent Protestant translations
1534 second edition; 50.000 copies by the time of Tyndale’s death
Miles Coverdale (1488-1569)
- two translations of the Bible: 1535, the first printed English Bible
- 1537 new edition, A new edition, “overseen and corrected”
1560: Geneva Bible, made by a group of Puritan exiles; dedicated to Elizabeth,
but unacceptable to the leaders of the Church
1568-69: Bishops’ Bible: the official Bible of the Elizabethan Church
1611: King James Bible (Authorized Version) from the original Hebrew and
Greek, prepared by six panels of 47 scholars)
[Over 200 editions of the Holy Scriptures were prepared between 1521 and 1600,
480 between 1601 and 1700; by the early 18th century well over 500.000 copies of
the Bible, by conservative estimate had been printed]
5
Iacopo da Lentini (fine XII sec  c. 1250)
Amor è uno desio che ven da core
per abbundanza di gran piacimento;
e li occhi in prima generan l’amore
e lo core li dà nutricamento.
Ben è alcuna fiata om amatore
senza vedere suo ‘namoramento,
ma quell’amor che stringe con furore
da la vista de li occhi ha nascimento.
Ché li occhi rappresentan a lo core
d’onni cosa che veden bono e rio,
com’è formata naturalemente.
E lo cor, che di ciò è concepitore,
imagina, e li piace quel disio:
e questo amore regna fra la gente.
[sede dell’anima sensitiva]
[per effetto del piacere]
[l’innamorato]
[nella sua forma naturale]
[il cuore genera l’immagine]
[e provoca il desiderio]
Dante Alighieri: Firenze 1265 - Ravenna 1321
[Vita Nova, c. 1295]
Tanto gentile e tanto onesta pare
la donna mia, quand'ella altrui saluta,
ch'ogne lingua deven tremando muta,
e li occhi no l'ardiscon di guardare.
Ella si va, sentendosi laudare,
benignamente d'umiltà vestuta;
e par che sia una cosa venuta
da cielo in terra a miracol mostrare.
Mostrasi sì piacente a chi la mira,
che dà per li occhi una dolcezza al core,
che 'ntender no la può chi no la prova:
e par che de la sua labbia si mova
un spirito soave pien d'amore,
che va dicendo a l'anima: Sospira.
Francesco Petrarca: Arezzo 1304 - Arquà 1374
[Rime, I, prima stesura 1343]
Voi ch'ascoltate in rime sparse il suono
di quei sospiri ond'io nudriva 'l core
in sul mio primo giovenile errore,
quand'era in parte altr'uom da quel ch'i' sono,
del vario stile in ch'io piango et ragiono
fra le vane speranze e 'l van dolore,
ove sia chi per prova intenda amore,
spero trovar pietà, nonché perdono.
Ma ben veggio or sí come al popol tutto
favola fui gran tempo, onde sovente
di me medesmo meco mi vergogno;
et del mio vaneggiar vergogna è 'l frutto,
e 'l pentersi, e 'l conoscer chiaramente
che quanto piace al mondo è breve sogno.
con i quali
a causa del
per esperienza
oggetto di chiacchiera e dileggio
e 'l: così come è frutto il…
6
Petrarca (Rime, CXC)
Una candida cerva sopra l'erba
verde m'apparve, con duo corna d'oro,
fra due riviere, all'ombra d'un alloro,
levando 'l sole a la stagione acerba.
Era sua vista sì dolce superba,
ch'i' lasciai per seguirla ogni lavoro:
come l'avaro che 'n cercar tesoro
con diletto l'affanno disacerba.
"Nessun mi tocchi - al bel collo d'intorno
scritto avea di diamanti et di topazi - :
libera farmi al mio Cesare parve”.
Et era 'l sol già vòlto al mezzo giorno,
gli occhi miei stanchi di mirar, non sazi,
quand'io caddi ne l'acqua, et ella sparve.
fiumi
al levarsi del sole, in primavera
solleva, tempera
in caratteri di …
piacque
diamanti: simbolo di costanza, fermezza
topazi: simbolo di castità
Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542)
Whoso list to hunt? I know where is an hind,
But as for me, alas! I may no more−,
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore;
I am of them that furthest come behind.
whoever wishes
effort
severely
Yet may I, by no means, my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore,
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain.
And graven with diamonds in letters plain,
[he may]
There is written her fair neck round about;
“Noli me tangere; for Cæsar’s I am,
And wild for to hold, though I seem tame.”
to weary: cause to become tired, exhaust
Endecasillabo: qualsiasi verso che abbia come ultima sillaba tonica (accentata) la
decima. Conterà quindi undici sillabe solo se l'uscita è piana (cioè, se alla sillaba
accentata ne segue un'altra senza accento, come nella maggior parte delle parole
italiane). Gli endecasillabi italiani sono quasi sempre "canonici", hanno cioè accentata,
oltre alla decima, almeno anche la quarta sillaba (in questo caso si parla di
endecasillabo a minore) o la sesta (endecasillabo a maiore). Gli endecasillabi di Dante
sono quasi tutti canonici. Quelli di Petrarca sono tutti canonici.
7
Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)
A Vision vpon this conceipt of the Faery Queene.
conceit
ME thought I saw the graue where Laura lay
Within that Temple, where the vestall flame
Was wont to burne, and passing by that way,
To see that buried dust of liuing fame,
Methought, grave
vestal
Whose tombe faire loue, and fairer vertue kept,
All suddenly I saw the Faery Queene:
At whose approch the soule of Petrarke wept,
And from thenceforth those graces were not seene.
tomb
For they this Queene attended, in whose steed
Obliuion laid him downe on Lauras herse:
Hereat the hardest stones were seene to bleed,
And grones of buried ghostes the heuens did perse.
stead
Oblivion, hearse
Where Homers spright did tremble all for griefe,
And curst th' accesse of that celestiall theife.
l.
l.
l.
l.
l.
l.
l.
l.
1
3
4
8
10
11
12
14
Petrarch
groans, heavens, pierce
spirit
cursed, thief
Methought: it seemed to me
wont: accustomed
to see: in order to see
those graces: the vestal virgins
hearse: coffin; Oblivion laid him downe: had laid himself down
hereat: at which, as a result
groanes: complaints; ghosts: those of other poets
that celestiall theife: i.e. Spenser
Edmund Spenser (1552-1599)
Amoretti, LXXV
One day I wrote her name vpon the strand,
But came the waues and washed it away:
Agayne I wrote it with a second hand,
But came the tyde, and made my paynes his pray.
Vayne man, sayd she, that doest in vaine assay,
A mortall thing so to immortalize,
For I myselve shall lyke to this decay,
And eek my name bee wyped out lykewise.
Not so, (quod I) let baser things devize
To dy in dust, but you shall liue by fame:
My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,
And in the heuens wryte your glorious name.
Where whenas death shall all the world subdew,
Our loue shall live, and later life renew.
beach
prey
eke: also
contrive
although
8
Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Astrophil and Stella, Sonnet 1
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show
That she (dear She) might take some pleasure of my pain:
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain;
[my love for her]
[i.e. her favor]
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain:
Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burn’d brain.
[showers: lines]
[fain: wishing]
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention’s stay, [lamely, lacking the support]
Invention, Nature’s child, fled step-dame Study’s blows,
[step-dame: stepmother]
And others’ feet still seem’d but strangers in my way.
Thus, great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
[throes: birth pangs]
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
“Fool,” said my Muse to me, “look in thy heart and write.”
l. 11 di Invention, Nature è madre; Study è matrigna.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Sonnets, 1
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauties Rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heire might beare his memory:
But thou contracted to thine owne bright eyes,
Feed'st thy lights flame with selfe substantiall fwell,
Making a famine where aboundance lies,
Thy selfe thy foe, to thy sweet selfe too cruell:
Thou that art now the worlds fresh ornament,
And only herauld to the gaudy spring,
Within thine owne bud buriest thy content,
And, tender chorle, makst wast in niggarding:
[offspring]
[riper rose]
[tender: young]
[thy selfe: your being]
[fresh: youthful, vigorous]
[gaudy: showy]
[content: happiness/offspring]
[churl: miserly fellow]
Pitty the world, or else this glutton be,
To eate the world’s due, by the grave and thee.
contracted: 1. engaged to marry; 2. Drawn together, collected; combined, united
thereby: through increase; or through fairest creatures
tender churl: churl: miserly fellow (Serpieri: tenero spilorcio)
gaudy: che si mette in mostra; sfarzosa
content: 1. happiness (which lies in marriage) 2. offspring (of a potential father)
niggarding: avarice / cupidity
the world’s due: increase, regarded as a “duty” or a “debt”
9
Sonnets, 105
Let not my love be cal’d Idolatrie,
Nor my beloved as an Idoll show,>
Since all alike my songs and praises be
To one, of one, still such, and ever so.
appear
Kinde is my love to day, to morrow kinde,
Still constant in a wondrous excellence,
Therefore my verse to constancie confin’de,
One thing expressing, leaves out difference.>
Faire, kinde, and true, is all my argument,
Faire, kinde, and true, varrying to> other words,
And in this change is my invention spent,
Three theames in one, which wondrous scope affords.
diversity
restating in
Faire, kinde, and true, have often liv’d alone.
Which three till now, never kept seate> in one.
dwelt
Sonnets, 18
Shall I compare thee to a Summers day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough windes do shake the darling buds of Maie,
And Sommers lease hath all too short a date:
precious, cherished
contract − duration
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d,
And every faire from faire some-time declines,
By chance, or natures changing course untrim’ed:
stripped of ornament
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade,
Nor loose possession of that faire thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wandr'st in his shade,
When in eternall lines to time thou grow'st,
boast
So long as men can breath, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Sonnets, 69
Those parts of thee that the worlds eye doth view,
Want nothing that the thought of hearts can mend:
All toungs (the voice of soules), give thee that end>,
probable misprint for ‘due’
Uttring bare truth, even so as foes Commend.> exactly as enemies praise (i.e. faintly)
Their> outward thus with outward praise is crownd,
But those same toungs that give thee so thine owne>,
In other accents do this praise confound>
By seeing farther than the eye hath showne.
They looke into the beauty of thy mind,
And that in guesse they measure by thy deeds,
Then churls their thoughts (although their eies were kind)
To thy faire flower ad the rancke smell of weeds,
But why thy odor matcheth not thy show,
The soyle is this, that thou doest common grow.
thy
your due
destroy
10
Prosody: the study of versification
Rhythm: the natural sound pattern on which the language insists in common
speech (prose rhythm)
Meter: a conventional sound pattern showing an ideally regular pattern
Four basic types of meter are traditionally found in the poetry of Western
Literatures:
- accentual meter: the number of accents per line remains fixed, but not the
number of syllables; in Anglo-Saxon poetry the meter was purely accentual
- syllabic meter: the number of syllables per line remains fixed, but not the
number of stresses; French, Italian and Spanish poetry use purely accentual meters
- accentual syllabic meter: a pattern of regularity both in the number of stresses
and in the number syllables; this kind of meter has prevailed in English prosody for
the past six centuries
- free verse: irregular patterns of stress and syllables
General structural formula of the English syllable: C0-3 V C0-4n
Sound patterns within syllables
C
C
C
C
C
C
VC
VC
VC
VC
VC
VC
rhyme
reverse rhyme
pararhyme
alliteration
consonance
assonance
great / bait
great / grape
great / groat
great / grow
great / meat
great / fail
send / end
send / sell
send sound
send / sit
send / hand
send / bell
C = consonant cluster; V = vowel nucleus [the unvarying part of syllables is
underlined]
Main types of foot of traditional prosody:
iamb
trochee
anapest
dactyl
spondee
 /
/
 /
/
/ /
Syllables which are normally stressed: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
Syllables which normally are not stressed: prepositions, auxiliaries, articles, and
pronouns
Scansion: description of the rhythmic pattern by dividing the lines into feet,
marking the position of stressed and unstressed syllables, and counting the syllables.
Thus, when we describe the rhythm of a poem, we “scan” the lines of the whole
poem; we mark the stresses (/) and absences of stress (), and count the number of
feet
The accentual syllabic meter of traditional English prosody is still in use, especially
when poets write sonnets; in this case the iambic pentameter would still be the
dominant rhythmic pattern.
11
Platone  Plotino  Ficino
Platone (Atene 428/427 − 347 a. C)
ldea: il predicato come entità autonoma e invariabile; si può dire che qualcosa
(elemento molteplice e variabile) è buona perché esiste una idea della Bellezza
(invariabile ed eterna); altro esempio: l’idea di una figura geometrica non cambia al
cospetto della mutevolezza delle sue realizzazioni empiriche
- nell’uomo l’anima e le idee hanno una natura affine − infatti è immortale −
mentre il corpo è immerso nel campo della materia
- ma l’anima ha memoria, anche se offuscata, della visione pura delle idee
- le Idee non sono uguali, né per tipo, né per importanza; l’idea suprema è il bene;
al di sotto c'è l'Idea di Giustizia (quindi la Giustizia deve essere sempre sottomessa al
Bene); poi l’idea del Bello
- la forza traente dell’anima verso le idee è l’eros, la maggiore delle passioni
umane, a patto che l’individuo sia capace di sublimare la passione e vedere nella
bellezza terrena un riflesso di quella ideale
- tripartizione dell’anima: razionale / irascibile / concupiscibile
- sede rispettiva:
cervello / cuore / ventre
- dal Timeo deriva la credenza rinascimentale che alla bellezza dei lineamenti
corrisponde quella dell’anima
*
Neoplatonici (primi 4 secoli d.C.)
Plutarco, I sec. − Plotino, III sec.  Macrobio, V sec.
Plotino
- la realtà si produce a partire da un principio trascendente: l’Uno
- dall’Uno fluisce l’essere, su livelli diversi [come dal sole la luce]; non per atto
d’amore o altro, ma perché il Bene “sovrabbonda” dall’Uno
- seguono: l’Intelletto e le Idee; la vita, l’anima del mondo e le anime individuali; il
corpo e la materia (non-realtà, in quanto concepiti come privazione / carenza del
Bene; è il livello in cui si situa il male)
-nell’individuo plotiniano vi sono tre livelli dell’Essere: Anima eterna, illuminata
dall’Intelletto; anima inferiore, nel corpo; il corpo stesso, la materia
- anche i neo-platonici non spezzano totalmente il legame tra mondo ideale e
mondo materiale
- possibilità della esperienza mistica (desiderio dell’anima del divino); elevazione,
intuizione
Macrobio (390 c. – 430 c.)
All’inizio del V° sec., sotto forma di commento al testo ciceroniano (In somnium
Scipionis), Macrobio fornì un compendio in latino di gran parte delle teorie di Plotino. Il
breve brano citato di seguito costituì probabilmente uno dei principali veicoli
attraverso il quale la concezione della ‘catena dell’Essere’ fu trasmessa agli scrittori
medioevali:
“La grande catena dell’Essere”
Poiché [...] dal Dio Supremo sorge la Mente, e dalla Mente l’Anima, e poiché questa
a sua volta crea ogni ulteriore cosa e tutte le riempie di vita, e poiché questo singolo
fulgore tutto illumina e in ciascun essere si riflette, come un singolo viso può riflettersi
in molti specchi disposti in fila; e poiché tutte le cose si susseguono in successione
continua, via via degenerando fino alla fine della sequenza, l’osservatore attento
scoprirà una connessione tra le parti, dal Dio supremo fino alle ultime scorie delle
12
cose, mutualmente collegate senza soluzione. E questa è la catena d’oro di Omero,
che Dio, egli dice, volle far discendere dal cielo alla terra.
(MACROBIO, Commentarius in somnium Scipionis, I, 14.; Omero parla in realtà,
nell’Iliade, di una fune).
*
Neoplatonismo rinascimentale / cristiano
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499)
- il più influente teorico del platonismo letterario nel 15° sec. (1433-1499)
M. FICINO, Sopra lo amore o ver’ Convito di Platone, Firenze, 1544 (composta di
sette orazioni)
Ficino traduce e commenta le opere complete di Platone e Plotino. Il suo
Commentarium in Convivium Platonis de Amore, scritto nel 1469, pubbicato nel 1484,
da lui stesso tradotto in volgare, formula per la prima volta la dottrina dell’amore
platonico
- Ficino limita l’amore a Vista, Udito, Pensiero (come farà anche Castiglione)
- l’amore ha come fine il godimento della bellezza; la bellezza pertiene solo alla
mente, alla vista e all’udito
- il desiderio che nasce dagli altri sensi non è amore ma lussuria o follia
- l’amore è desiderio di bellezza; questa è percepita con gli occhi; l’amore è dunque
fatto solo di sguardi,
- gli amanti cercano la bellezza, poiché l’amore è il desiderio di godere della
bellezza
- la bellezza è un certo splendore, che attrae l’anima verso se stessa
- Quella luce dell’anima la cogliamo solo con la mente.
- Quello splendore del corpo è .... colto solo dall’occhio.
- La bellezza dell’anima è splendore in armonia di conoscenza e moralità
- Il desiderio fisico ... non è amore, ma è proprio dell’uomo servile.
- Un uomo gode della bellezza fisica di un giovane con gli occhi; il ragazzo gode
della bellezza fisica dell’uomo con la mente
- il ragazzo è bello solo nel corpo, l’uomo solo nella mente; il primo si arricchisce di
bellezza anche nell’anima; il secondo offre agli occhi la bellezza del corpo
Una scala composta di cinque gradini congiungono il mondo sensibile a Dio:
Dio − Anima  Natura angelica  Qualità sensibile − Materia
Per quanto riguarda i rapporti tra l’individuo e il mondo Ficino elabora uno schema
tripartito di corrispondenze:
MICROCOSMO
MACROCOSMO
Anima
Intelletto universale
Spiritus humanus
Spiritus mundanus
Corpo
Materia universale
13
Platone, Simposio, scritto ca. 385 a. C. (in grassetto i nomi dei personaggi che
pronunciano i discorsi più rilevanti per l’argomento del corso). Il “simposio”, nella
Grecia antica, era la parte finale di un banchetto, in cui si chiacchierava, discuteva,
cantava)
· Scena iniziale: Apollodoro racconta ad alcuni amici l’incontro con Glaucone e
dialoga con uno di loro
· Ha inizio la narrazione di Apollodoro sulla sera del simposio:
· Aristodemo e Socrate si dirigono verso casa di Agatone
· La cena a casa di Agatone e la decisione che tutti i presenti pronuncino un elogio
di Eros
· Il discorso di Fedro (Eros come nume benefico)
· Il discorso di Pausania (duplicità di Venere e Eros; supremazia dell’eros maschile)
· Aristofane ha il singhiozzo e chiede a Erissimaco di poter parlare dopo di lui
· Il discorso di Erissimaco
· Ad Aristofane è passato il singhiozzo e commenta questo fatto con Erissimaco
· Il discorso di Aristofane (mito degli uomini rotondi; l’androgino primordiale)
· Breve dialogo tra Socrate e Agatone, interrotto da Fedro
· Il discorso di Agatone
· Dialogo tra Socrate e Agatone, che prepara il discorso di Socrate
· Il discorso di Socrate, che riporta le parole della sacerdotessa Diotima (Eros
come démone intermedio tra dei ed esseri umani; la via ascensionale dell’amore)
· L’arrivo di Alcibiade
· Il discorso di Alcibiade, che pronuncia un elogio di Socrate
· Arrivano altri amici e i discorsi hanno termine
· Il simposio si chiude al mattino, quando già i galli cantano.
[Una traduzione commentata, autorevole, del Simposio scaricabile gratuitamente si trova in
http://www.libreriafilosofica.com/shop/testi/il_simposio_platone/]
Il bello e il divino [Castiglione / Hoby]
[...] da Dio nasce la Bellezza ed è come circulo, di cui la bontà è il centro; e però,
come non po esser circulo senza centro, non po esser bellezza senza bontà: onde rare
volte mala anima abita bel corpo, e perciò la bellezza estrinseca è vero segno della
bontà intrinseca, e nei corpi è impressa quella grazia più e meno quasi per un
carattere dell’anima, per lo quale essa è estrinsecamente conosciuta [...]. I brutti
adunque per lo più sono ancor mali, e li belli boni: e dir si po che la bellezza sia la
faccia piacevole, allegra, grata e desiderabile del bene; e la bruttezza, la faccia oscura,
molesta, dispiacevole e trista del male [...] e dir si po che ‘l bono e ‘l bello, a qualche
modo, siano una medesima cosa, e massimamente nei corpi umani; della bellezza de’
quali la più propinqua causa estimo io che sia la bellezza dell’anima [...].
(Baldassar Castiglione, Il libro de cortegiano, 1528, libro quarto, LVII-LIX)
[...] beauty cometh of God and is like a circle, the goodness whereof is the
center. And therefore, as there can be no circle without a center, no more can beauty
be without goodness. Whereupon doth very seldom an ill soul dwell in a beautifull
body. And therefore is the outward beauty a true sign of the inward goodness, and in
bodies this comeliness is imprinted, as it were, for a mark of the soul, whereby she is
outwardly known [...] The foul therefore for the most part be also evil, and the
beautiful good. Therefore it may be said that beauty is a face pleasant, merry, comely,
and to be desired for goodness; and foulness a face dark, uglesome, unpleasant, and
to be shunned for ill [...] And it may be said that good and beautiful be after a sort
one self thing, especially in the bodies of men; of the beauty whereof the nighest
cause [...] is the beauty of the soul.
(THOMAS HOBY, The Courtier, 1561, The Fourth Book)
14
Struttura dell’anima
[Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy (1621-41), Pt. 1, Sec. 1, Mem. 2, Subs. 511]
I. Anima vegetativa
(vegetal soul)
Presente in:
Sede:
Funzione:
piante / animali / uomo
linfa o radice / fegato
nutrimento / crescita / generazione
,
II. Anima sensitiva
(sensible soul)
Presente in:
Sede:
Funzione:
animali / uomo
varie parti del cervello *
“centro operativo” di tutte le funzioni
* l’origine e radice dell’anima sensitiva è però nel cuore
L’anima sensitiva è composta da due facoltà:
1.
Facoltà conoscitiva (apprehending faculty), comprende i sensi interni e esterni:
1a. sensi esterni (outward senses): i cinque sensi
1b. sensi interni (inward senses): common sense, imagination, memory
2. Facoltà motoria (moving faculty), preposta ad ogni tipo di movimento, fisico o
mentale
III. Anima razionale
(rational soul)
La parte più pura (synteresis) è a contatto con la mente divina
Presente in:
Sede:
Funzione:
uomo
cervello (o cuore o sangue)
governa e comprende le altre due
L’anima razionale comprende l’Intelletto (Understanding) e la Volontà (Will)
Will, l’appetito razionale, desidera o respinge ciò che è già stato giudicato
dall’Intelletto come buono o cattivo
15
Gli spiriti nella fisiologia elisabettiana
Spiriti naturali
Organo di formazione:
Funzione:
Canale di comuncazione:
fegato
trasportare il nutrimento
vene (vi scorrono anche gli umori)
Spiriti vitali
Organo di formazione:
Funzione:
Canale di comunicazione:
cuore
diffondere il ‘calore naturale’
arterie
Spiriti animali
Organo di formazione:
Funzione:
Canale di comunicazione:
cervello (in una sottilissima rete di arterie)
permettono di sentire e agire (sense and motion)
nervi (nerves, chiamati anche sinews)
Elementi - Qualità − Umori
“Esistono infatti quattro umori nell’uomo, che imitano i diversi elementi; aumentano
ognuno in stagioni diverse, predominano ognuno in una diversa età. Il sangue imita
l’aria, aumenta in primavera, domina nell’infanzia. La bile gialla imita il fuoco,
aumenta in estate, domina nell’adolescenza. La bile nera ovvero la melanconia imita la
terra, aumenta in autunno, domina nella maturità. Il flegma imita l’acqua, aumenta in
inverno, domina nella vecchiaia. Quando questi umori affluiscono in misura non
superiore né inferiore al giusto, l’uomo prospera”.
(ANON., De Mundi Constitutione cit. in R. KLYBANSKY, E. PANOFSKY,
F. SAXL, Saturno e la melanconia, Torino, Einaudi, 1983, p. 7.)
Terra<>secchezza − Acqua<>umidità − Aria<>freddo − Fuoco<>calore
Terra / Bile nera (Malinconia) / Autunno / Maturità
Acqua / Flegma / Inverno / Vecchiaia
Aria / Sangue / Primavera / Infanzia
Fuoco / Bile gialla (o rossa, o Collera) / Estate / Adolescenza
Sangue: caldo-umido
Bile gialla (o rossa) o Collera: caldo-secco
Bile nera (o Malinconia): freddo-secco
Flegma: freddo umido
[Saturno]
[Luna o Venere]
[Giove]
[Marte]
16
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 63
Against> my love shall be as I am now
With times injurious hand crusht and ore-worne>,
When houres have dreind his blood and fild his brow
With lines and wrinkles, when his youthfull morne>
Hath travaild> on to Ages> steepie night,
And all those beauties whereof now he's King
Are vanishing, or vanisht out of sight,
Stealing away the treasure of his Spring.
For such a time do I now fortifie
Against confounding Ages cruell knife,
That he shall never cut from memory
My sweet loves beauty, though> my lovers life.
His beautie shall in these blacke lines be seene,
And they shall live, and he in them still greene.
Against that time when
overworn
morning
travelled or travailed 
Age’s
though he may have taken away
P. Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 52
A strife> is growne betweene Virtue and Love,
dispute
While each pretends that Stella must be his:
Her eyes, her lips, her all, saith Love, doe> this,
prove this
Since they doe weare his badge, most firmely prove.
But Virtue thus that title> doth disprove,
claim
That Stella (ô deare name) that Stella is,
That virtuous Soule, sure heire of heav’nly blisse:
Not> this faire outside, which our heart doth move;
not just
And therefore, though her beautie and her grace,
Be> Loves indeed, in Stellas selfe he may
belong to Love
By no pretence claime any manner place>.
claim in any manner her selfe/Soul
Well Love, since this Demurre> our sute doth staie>,
delay/objection; stay: halt
Let Virtue have that Stellas selfe, yet thus,
Stella’s soul; yet, in so doing
That Virtue but that body graunt to us.
That V.: let V. have that; grant: be granted
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 20
A womans face with natures owne hand painted,
Haste> thou the Master Mistris of my passion,
A womans gentle hart, but not acquainted
With shifting change as is false womens fashion,
An eye more bright than theirs, lesse false in rowling>:
Gilding> the object where-upon it gazeth,
A man in hew all Hews in his controwling,
Which steales mens eyes and womens soules amaseth.
And for a woman wert thou first created,
Till Nature as she wrought> thee fell a dotinge>,
And by addition me of thee defeated,
By adding one thing to my purpose nothing.
But since she prick't thee out for women pleasure,
Mine be thy love and thy loves use their treasure.
hast (have)
rolling
giving a golden tinge
worked on – fell in love
17
Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, S. 7
When Nature made her chiefe worke, Stellas eyes,
In colour blacke, why wrapt she beames so bright?
Would she in beamie blacke, like painter wise,
Frame daintiest lustre>, mixt of shades and light?
Or did she else that sober hue devise,
In object best to knit and strength our sight,
Lest> if no vaile> these brave gleames did disguise,
They sun-like should more dazle then delight?
Or would she her miraculous power show,
That whereas blacke seemes Beauties contrary,
She even in blacke doth make all beauties flow?
Both so and thus, she minding love should be
Placed ever there, gave him this mourning weed,
To honour all their deaths>, who for her bleed.>
finest brightnesst
sober / somber
lest: for fear that; veil
the death of all those who; suffer
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 130
My Mistres eyes are nothing like the Sunne,
Currall> is farre> more red, than her lips red,
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun >:
If haires be wiers>, black wiers grow on her head:
I have seene Roses damaskt, red and white,
But no such Roses see I in her cheekes,
And in some perfumes is there more delight,
Than> in the breath that from my Mistres reekes.
I love to heare her speake, yet well I know,
That Musicke hath a farre more pleasing sound:
I graunt I never saw a goddesse goe,
My Mistres when shee walkes treads on the ground.
And yet by heaven I thinke my love as rare,
As any she beli'd> with false compare.
coral; far
brownish
wires
then
belied: proved false
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, S. 127
In the ould age blacke was not counted faire,
Or if it weare, it bore not beauties name:
But now is blacke beauties successive> heire,
And Beautie slanderd with a bastard shame,
For since each hand hath put on Natures power,
Fairing the foule with Arts> faulse borrow’d face,
Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy boure>,
But is prophan’d, if not lives in disgrace.
Therefore my Mistersse eyes are Raven blacke,
Her eyes so suted>, and they mourners seeme,
At such who not borne faire, no beauty lack,
Slandring Creation with a false esteeme,
Yet so they mourne becomming of their woe,
That every toung saies beauty should looke so.
in succession
Art’s: cosmetics
bower, residence
or else
suited, dressed
becoming of: suiting
18
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 144
Two loves I have of comfort and despaire,
Which like two spirits do sugjest me still,
The better angell is a man right faire,
The worser spirit a woman collour’d il.
To win me soone to hell> my female evill,
Tempteth my better angel from my sight,
And would corrupt my saint to be a divel >:
Wooing his purity with her fowle pride>.
And whether that my angel be turn’d finde>,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell,
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I gesse one angel in an others hel.
Yet this shall I nere> know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
to drive me to a hellish state
devil
lust
fiend, evil spirit or person
never
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 129
Th’ expence of Spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action>: and till action, lust
Is perjurd, murdrous, blouddy full of blame,
Savage, extreame, rude, cruell, not to trust,
Injoyd no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated, as a swallowed bayt>,
On purpose layd to make the taker mad.
Made> in pursut> and in possession so,
Had, having, and in quest, to have extreame,
A blisse in proofe>, and provd and> very wo>,
Before, a joy proposd> behind a dreame,
All this the world well knowes yet none knowes well,
To shun> the heaven that leads men to this hell.
sexual action
bait
mad – pursuit
in the ‘having’; a; woe
imagined,
avoid
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 147
My love is as a fever longing still,
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve> the ill>,
Th’uncertaine sicklie appetite to please:
My reason, the Phisition> to my love,
Angry that his prescriptions are not kept
Hath left me, and I desperate now approove>,
Desire is death, which Phisick> did except>.
Past cure I am, now Reason is past care,
And frantick madde with ever-more unrest,
My thoughts and my discourse as mad mens are,
At random from the truth vainely exprest.
For I have sworne thee fair, and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as darke as night.
protract; illness
physician
discover
physic (reason); forbid
19
J. Donne, Songs and Sonets, “The Flea”
MARK but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deniest me is;
It suck’d me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled be.
Thou know’st that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead>;
Yet this enjoys before it woo>,
And pamper’d> swells with one blood made of two;
And this, alas ! is more than we would do.
O stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
Though parents grudge>, and you, we’re met,
And cloister’d in these living walls of jet >.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since>
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it suck’d from thee?
Yet thou triumph’st, and say’st that thou
Find’st not thyself nor me the weaker now.
’Tis true; then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honour, when thou yield’st to me,
Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.
virginity
pursues a courtship
gratified
complain
glossy black stone
then
J. Donne, Songs and Sonets, “The Apparition”
WHEN by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead,
And that thou thinkst thee free
From all solicitation> from me,
Then shall my ghost come to thy bed,
And thee, feign'd vestal, in worse> arms shall see;
Then thy sick taper> will begin to wink,
And he, whose thou art then, being tired before,
Will, if thou stir, or pinch to wake him, think
Thou call'st for more,
And, in false sleep, will from thee shrink,
And then, poor aspen wretch>, neglected thou
Bathed in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lie,
A verier ghost than I.
What I will say, I will not tell thee now,
Lest> that preserve thee; and since my love is spent,
I'd rather thou shouldst painfully repent,
Than by my threat’nings rest still innocent.
pleading
worse than mine
candle
poor trembling poplar leaf
mercury
for fear that
20
AN ANATOMY OF THE WORLD [J. Donne, 1611]
Wherein, by occasion of the untimely death of Mistress Elizabeth Drury, the frailty and the
decay of this whole world is represented.
THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY
And new philosophy calls all in doubt,
The element of fire is quite put out,
The sun is lost, and th'earth, and no man's wit>
Can well direct him where to look for it.
And freely men confess that this world's spent>,
When in the planets and the firmament
They seek so many new>; they see that this
Is crumbled out again to his atomies.
'Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone,
All just supply>, and all relation;
Prince, subject, father, son, are things forgot,
For every man alone thinks he hath got
To be a phoenix, and that then can be
None of that kind>, of which he is, but he.
intellect
exhausted
new worlds
distribution
the phoenix’s
[…]
She, she is dead>; she's dead: when thou know'st this,
Eliz. Drury
Thou know'st how lame a cripple this world is.
And learn'st thus much by our anatomy,
That this world's general sickness doth not lie
In any humor, or one certain part;
But, as thou sawest it rotten at the heart,
Thou seest a hectic> fever hath got hold
consumptive
Of the whole substance, not to be controlled,
And that thou hast but one way not to admit>
allow entry
The world's infection, to be none of it.
*
Arcaismi elisabettiani
thou (you, II pers. sing., sogg.)
– “But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes”
thee (you, II pers. sing., ogg.-compl. ind.)
 “Thy unused beauty must be tombed with thee”
thy (agg. poss.)
– “When forty Winters shall besiege thy brow”
thine (pron. poss.)
– “Whose influence is thine, and born of thee”
(ma anche: “Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me”)
-’st (= II pers. sing)
– “Why lov'st thou that which thou receiv'st not gladly”
-eth (= -es, III pers. sing.) – “That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows”
dost (= do, II pers. sing.) – “How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame”
doth (= does) – “Thou art the grave where buried love doth live”
didst (= did, II pers. passato)  “Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day”
art (= are) – “Be wise as thou art cruel”
wert (= were, II pers. sing, pass.) – “And for a woman wert thou first created”
21
J. Donne, Holy Sonnets, XIV
Batter my heart, three-person'd God; for, you
As yet> but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend>;
up to now - to repair me
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow mee, and bend>
use/employ
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurpt towne to another due>,
belonging to s.o. other than the usurper
Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason, your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely I love you, and would be lov'd fain>,
I would be pleased to be loved
But am betroth'd unto your enemie:
Divorce mee, untie or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall> mee, never shall be free,
enthral: enslave
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.
J. Donne, Holy Sonnets, XVII
Since she whom I lov'd hath payd her last debt
To Nature, and to hers>, and my good is dead,
to her life
And her Soule early into heaven ravished,
Wholly in heavenly things my mind is sett.
Here the admyring her my mind did whett>
whet: sharpen, stimulate
To seek thee God; so streames do shew their head>;
their source
But though I have found thee, and thou my thirst hast fed,
A holy thirsty dropsy> melts me yett.
thirsty dropsy: insatiable thirst
But why should I begg more Love, when as> thou
when as: since
Dost wooe my soule, for hers; offring all thine:
And dost not only feare least> I allow>
allow: grant/give
My Love to Saints and Angels, things divine,
But in thy tender jealousy dost doubt
Least the World, Fleshe, yea Devill putt thee out >.
put out: repel, force away
l. 10 you woo my soul and offer all your love in exchange for her soul
least = lest: lest: for fear that; because of the possibility that; in case I might
W. Shakespeare, Sonnets, 116
Let me not to the marriage of true mindes
Admit impediments, love is not love
Which alters when it alteration findes,
Or bends> with the remover> to remove.
turns away  the agent of alteration
O, no, it is an ever-fixed marke
That lookes on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandring barke,
Whose> worths unknowne, although his higth be taken.
the star’s
Lov's not Times foole, though rosie lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickles compasse> come,
within the sweep of the sickle
Love alters not with his breefe houres and weekes,
But beares it out> even to the edge of doome>:
endures firmly  Doomsday
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
22
London
Population of London in 1500 : about 50,000 inhabitants
 1700 : about 500,000
 Shakespeare’s times: 200.000 thousand, including the borough of Southwark and
Westminster
- Westminster: separate city at the time
- successive royal edicts granted a relative autonomy of the City
City Administration
The corporations, through the institutions described below, controlled the
government of the City
Corporations: commercial and administrative associations, composed of Guild
members; however, the right to be a member could be bought, inherited or acquired
through marriage
Lord Mayor: elected yearly
Court of Aldermen: high-ranking officials of the crown
Common Council: the “City Fathers”, composed entirely by corporation members
Sheriff: the chief executive officer of the Crown, responsible for the civic execution
and respect of the law
All City officers, as well as the citizens who elected them, were Freemen
Freemen: members of a Guild (or livery company, twelve in origin); the freemen
were entitled to trade on their own account and to participate in the town's
government
Liberties: an area outside municipal jurisdiction
Legislation against actors
1597 [Elizabeth I]: An Act for punishment of rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy
beggars was passed, stating that
“All fencers, bearwards, common players of enterludes, and minstrels, wandering
abroad, (other than players of enterludes belonging to any Baron of this realme, or
any other honourable Personage of greater Degree, to be authorized to play under the
hand and seal of arms of such baron or personage); all jugglers, tinkers, pedlers, and
petty-chapmen wandering abroad … shall be adjudged and deemed rogues,
vagabonds, and sturdy beggars, and shall sustain such paine and punishment as by
this Act is in that behalf appointed.”
William Shakespeare (Stratford upon Avon 1564-1616)
Father (John Shakespeare)
- glover and wool-dealer in timber and wool, Catholic; eight children (four sons and
one daughter survived childhood);
- Bailiff (a position corresponding to Mayor) and Justice of the Peace in 1568 (but
his fortunes declined in his late years); was granted the arms of a gentleman in 1596,
probably at William’s request, and expenses.
- in 1568 he applied to the College of Arms for permission to use a coat of arms;
William followed up the application in 1596
The College agreed on the grounds that one of Shakespeare's forbears had been
rewarded for valiant service under Henry VII, that John had married the daughter of a
gentleman (Robert Arden) and that he was a JP, a royal bailiff and the owner of land
and buildings worth £50.
Mother (Mary Arden)
Mary Arden, of Wilmcote, Warwickshire, came from an ancient family and was the
heiress to some land. Her father was then a prosperous farmer; Mary married John in
1557
23
William
John’s third child and eldest son; his youngest brother, Edmund, also became an
actor, but died at the age of twenty-seven (1607); the high cost of the funeral
suggests that it may have been paid by his prosperous brother
- William almost certainly attended Stratford Grammar School, until he was fifteen;
his education would have included Latin, taught from the Tudor text-book Short
Introduction to Grammar, by William Lily; boys would be expected to translate Latin to
English and English to Latin
- other probable readings: Aesop’s Fables, Ovid’s, Metamorphoses, Virgil’s Aeneid,
some plays of Plautus and Terence – he did not go to University
- in 1582 , when he was eighteen, William married Anne Hathaway of Stratford,
eight years his senior, and pregnant (Anne died 1623, seven years after William)
- from the records of the Stratford church, we know that the couple had a
daughter, Susanna (baptized on May 26, 1583) and two twins, Hamnet and Judith
(baptized on February 2, 1585; Hamnet died in 1596
- nothing is known about his next eight years or so [1582-1600], until his name
begins to appear in London theatre records
1596 buys New Place in Stratford (demolished in 1759)
1604 lodged in North London in a Huguenot family called Mountjoy (Shakespeare
testified in a court case in favor of the family)
1613 buys a house in the Blackfriars area
1616 makes alterations to his will (most of his property goes to his elder daughter
Susanna, his “best second bed” to his wife)
Professional career
The first reference to Shakespeare in print comes in 1592, in a pamphlet written
by a fellow dramatist, Robert Greene:
Greene’s, Groats-worth of Wit:
“Yes trust them not: for there is an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that
with his Tygers heart wrapt in a Players* hide supposes he is as well able to bombast
out a blank verse as the best of you; and, being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in
his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country.”
[*O tiger’s heart wrapped in a woman’s hide! - Henry VI Part III: 1.4.137]
[some scholars think that Greene is not addressing Shakespeare but Edward Alleyn
(1566-1626); E. Alleyn and Richard Burbage (1567-1619) were the greatest actors of
the Elizabethan stage they were also theatrical managers and owners of several
playhouses, including the Globe, finished in 1599; their names are associated with the
Lord Strange's Men and with Lord Admiral's Men from 1590 to 1594]
As a member of Lord Chamberlain’s Men and then the King’s Men, Shakespeare
wrote for his company as a sharer in their commercial enterprise
- Shakespeare’s first associations with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men seem to have
been as an actor. He is not known to have acted after 1603
- Half of Shakespeare’s plays were printed in quarto during his lifetime
- June 1592 / may 1594: theatres close because of the plague
- Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) are the only works that
Shakespeare seems to have looked after for publication (both are dedicated to Henry
Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton)
Until 1597 the Lord Chamberlain’s Men played mainly in the Theatre (Shoredich),
then at the Curtain and finally at The Globe (Southwark)
24
- in 1608–09 the King’s Men took up the lease of a small, “private” indoor theatre,
the Blackfriars, where high admission charges assured the company a more select
and sophisticated audience for their performances. Shakespeare was again one of the
syndicate of owners when the theatre was finally bought by the Company
Composition Dates
The order of composition of Shakespeare’s works is wholly conjectural
University wits
The university wits include Christopher Marlowe (1564-93), Robert Greene (155892), and Thomas Nashe (1567-1601; all graduates of Cambridge), as well as Thomas
Lodge (1558-25), and George Peele (1558-97, both of Oxford). Another of the wits,
though not university-trained, was Thomas Kyd (1558-94)
Theatrical Companies
Sharers (owners or leaseholders of the theatre) / hired men (lesser actors and
working staff; all were paid by the week)
- bookholders : prompters
- stage keepers
- tiremen : wardrobe keepers
- musicians
- gatherers : money collectors
- scribes : they had to copy out actors’ parts and to make fair copies from the
playwright manuscripts;
- apprentices : they were highly trained and acted juvenile and female roles
- there was no no copyright; it was in the companies’ interest not to print the
plays
- ‘bad quartos’ : quartos not discending in a direct line from their author’s
manuscript
The First Folio
1623
John Heminge and Henry Condell (Shakespeare’s partners; entrepreneurs
and actors in the King’s Men)
- Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, Published According to the True Original
Copies
- 36 plays, half of them appearing in print for the first time
First Folio: To the Great Variety of Readers
From the most able, to him that can but spell: There you are number’d. We had rather you
were weighd. Especially, when the fate of all Bookes depends vpon your capacities: and not of
your heads alone, but of your purses. Well! it is now publique, & you wil stand for your
priuiledges wee know: to read, and censure. Do so, but buy it first. […]
It had bene a thing, we confesse, worthie to have bene wished, that the Author himselfe had
liv'd to have set forth, and overseen his owne writings; But since it hath bin ordain'd otherwise,
and he by death departed from that right, we pray you do not envie his Friends, the office of
their care, and paine, to have collected & publish'd them; and so to have publish'd them, as
where (before) you were abus'd with diverse stolne, and surreptitious copies, maimed, and
deformed by the frauds and stealthes of injurious impostors, that expos'd them : even those,
are now offer'd to your view cur'd, and perfect of their limbes; and all the rest, absolute in their
numbers, as he conceived the'.
Who, as he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and
hand went together: And what he thought, he uttered with that easinesse, that wee have scarse
received from him a blot in his papers. But it is not our province, who onely gather his works,
and give them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope, to your divers
capacities, you will finde enough, both to draw, and hold you : for his wit can no more lie hid,
then it could be lost. Reade him, therefore; and againe, and againe : And if then you doe not
like him, surely you are in some manifest danger, not to understand him.
25
Romeo and Juliet
- first appearance in print, 1597 (pirated version)
- 1599 new printing, possibly from Shakespeare’s working papers
- sources: Arthur Brooke’s long poem, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet
(1562); yet the story was already well known, in Italian, French, and English
The Prologue
[Enter] Chorus.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona (where we lay our scene),
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-marked love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which but their children's end nought could remove,
Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
[Exit]
I, V, 41-52
ROMEO [To a Servingman] What lady's that which doth enrich the hand
Of yonder knight?
SERVINGMAN
I know not, sir.
ROMEO O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear:
So shows> a snowy dove trooping with crows,
stand out
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
female companions
The measure> done, I'll watch her place of stand,
this dance
And touching hers>, make blessed my rude hand.
her hand
Did my heart love till now? forswear it>, sight!
deny it, break your former oath
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
I, V, 92-105
ROMEO [To Juliet, touching her hand]
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine>, the gentle sin is this,
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly> devotion shows in this,
For> saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers'> kiss.
ROMEO Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
ROMEO O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do:
They> pray, grant> thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet’s hand
well-mannered
since even
pilgrims’
lips / allow to kiss
26
JULIET Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
ROMEO Then move not while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by thine>, my sin is purged.
thy lips
[He kisses her]
JULIET You kiss by th'book.
NURSE Madam, your mother craves a word with you.
II, 1, 1-14
Now old desire doth in his death-bed lie,
And young affection gapes> to be his heir;
That fair for which love groaned for and would die,
With tender Juliet matched> is now not fair.
Now Romeo is beloved, and loves again,
Alike bewitched by the charm of looks;
But to his foe supposed he must complain>,
And she steal love's sweet bait from fearful hooks.
Being held a foe, he may not have access
To breathe> such vows as lovers use to swear,
And she as much in love, her means much less
To meet her new-belovèd any where:
But passion lends them power, time means>, to meet,
Temp'ring extremities> with extreme sweet.
waits open-mouthed
compared
send his lament
whisper
occasion
extreme difficulties
II, 2, 44-67
ROMEO [coming forward]
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green,
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.
[Enter Juliet aloft]
It is my lady, O it is my love:
O that she knew she were!
She speaks, yet she says nothing; what of that?
Her eye discourses, I will answer it.
I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,
Having some business>, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
What if her eyes were there, they> in her head ?
The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,
As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven
Would through the airy region stream > so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand !
O that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek !
something to do elsewhere
those stars
pour beams of light
27
Troilus and Cressida
- Stationers’ Register: 7 feb 1603; re-entered 28 jan 1609
- Quarto 1609; Folio 1623 adds a Prologue, and has many variations in dialogue
- Sources: Iliad (G. Chapman’s translation, 1598), Aeneid, Metamophoses
I,1, 1-5
TROILUS.
Call here my varlet; I'll unarm again.
Why should I war without the walls of Troy
That find such cruel battle here within?
Each Trojan that is master of his heart,
Let him to field; Troilus, alas! hath none.
PANDARUS.
Will this gear ne'er be mended?
I, 2, 94
PANDARUS.
She [Helen] prais'd his complexion above Paris.
I, 2, 103-104
PANDARUS.
I swear to you I think Helen loves him better than Paris.
I, 2, 278-91
[Exit PANDARUS.]
CRESSIDA
Words, vows, gifts, tears, and love's full sacrifice,
He> offers in another's> enterprise;
Pandarus - Troilus’s
But more in Troilus thousand-fold I see
Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be,1
Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:
Things won are done>; joy's soul lies in the doing.
of no worth
That she belov'd> knows nought that knows not this:2
Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is.
That she was never yet that ever knew>
a woman who hasn’t known
Love got so sweet as when desire did sue>;
as when desire supplicated
Therefore this maxim out of love I teach:
Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech.3
Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear,
Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.
[Exit.]
1
2
3
I see in Troilus a thousand things more to praise than…
there’s not a beloved woman who doesn’t know this
if won women are commanded, if not, implored
I, 3, 74-137
ULYSSES.
Troy, yet upon his basis, had been down,
And the great Hector's sword had lack'd a master,
But for these instances:
The specialty of rule> hath been neglected;
And look how many Grecian tents do stand
Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow> factions.
When that the general> is not like the hive,
To whom the foragers shall all repair,
prerogative
vane, empty
general behaviour
worker bee
28
What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded>,
Th' unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask.
The heavens themselves, the planets, and this centre>,
Observe degree, priority, and place>,
Insisture>, course, proportion, season, form,
Office, and custom, in all line of order;
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other>, whose med'cinable> eye
Corrects the ill aspects> of planets evil,
And posts>, like the commandment of a king,
Sans check>, to good and bad. But when the planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander,
What plagues and what portents, what mutiny,
What raging of the sea, shaking of earth,
Commotion in the winds! Frights, changes, horrors,
Divert> and crack, rend and deracinate,
The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixture>! O, when degree is shak'd,
Which is the ladder of all high designs,
The enterprise is sick! How could communities,
Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities,
Peaceful commerce from dividable> shores,
The primogenity and due of birth,
Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels,
But by degree>, stand in authentic> place?
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And hark> what discord follows! Each thing melts
In mere oppugnancy>: the bounded> waters
Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores,
And make a sop of all this solid globe;
Strength should> be lord of imbecility>,
And the rude son should strike his father dead;
Force should be right; or, rather, right and wrong 
Between whose endless jar> justice resides 
Should> lose their names, and so should justice too.
Then everything includes> itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, an universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with> will and power,
Must make> perforce an universal prey,
And last> eat up himself. Great Agamemnon,
This chaos, when degree is suffocate,
Follows the choking.
And this neglection of degree it is>
That by a pace> goes backward, with> a purpose
It hath to climb. The general's> disdain'd
By him one step below, he by the next,
That next by him beneath; so every step,
Exampl'd by the first pace that is sick>
Of his superior, grows to an envious fever
Of pale and bloodless emulation>.
And 'tis this fever that keeps Troy on foot> ,
Not her own sinews. To end a tale of length,
Troy in our weakness stands, not in her strength.
masked
earth
one’s place
stability
the other planets - medicinal
influence
reaches
impediments
deflect
usual position
between divided
hierarchy - in their proper
listen
antagonism; delimited
would; weakness
contrast
would all things
involves
by
make all things
finally
it has
step by step; despite
commander
after that first wrong example
rivalry
on her feet
29
III, 2, 110-131
CRESSIDA.
Boldness comes to me now and brings me heart.
Prince Troilus, I have lov'd you night and day
For many weary months.
TROILUS.
Why was my Cressid then so hard to win?
CRESSIDA.
Hard> to seem won; but I was won, my lord,
With the first glance that ever  pardon me.
If I confess much, you will play the tyrant.
I love you now; but till now not so much>
But I might master it. In faith, I lie;
My thoughts were like unbridled children, grown
Too headstrong for their mother. See, we fools!
Why have I blabb'd? Who shall be true to us>,
When we are so unsecret> to ourselves?
But, though I lov'd you well, I woo'd you not;
And yet, good faith, I wish'd myself a man,
Or that we women had men's privilege
Of speaking first. Sweet, bid me hold my tongue,
For in this rapture I shall surely speak
The thing I shall repent. See, see, your silence,
Cunning in dumbness, from my weakness draws
My very soul of counsel>. Stop my mouth.
TROILUS.
And shall, albeit sweet music issues thence.
[He kisses her]
PANDARUS.
Pretty, i' faith.
CRESSIDA.
My lord, I do beseech> you, pardon me;
'Twas not my purpose thus to beg a kiss.
I am asham'd. O heavens! what have I done?
For this time will I take my leave, my lord.
V, 2, 108-116
CRESSIDA.
Good night. I prithee come.
[Exit DIOMEDES.]
Troilus, farewell! One eye yet looks on thee;
But with my heart the other eye doth see.
Ah, poor our sex! this fault in us I find,
The error of our eye directs our mind.
What error leads must err; O, then conclude,
Minds sway'd> by eyes are full of turpitude.
[Exit.]
THERSITES. [aside]
A proof of strength she could not publish more,
Unless she said 'My mind is now turn'd whore.'
V, 9, 1-22
HECTOR.
Most putrified core so fair without,
Thy goodly armour thus hath cost thy life.
It is hard
not more than
us women
unable to keep a secret
caution
implore
governed
30
Now is my day's work done; I'll take good breath:
Rest, sword; thou hast thy fill of blood and death!
[Disarms.]
[Enter ACHILLES and his MYRMIDONS.]
ACHILLES.
Look, Hector, how the sun begins to set;
How ugly night comes breathing at his heels;
Even with the vail> and dark'ning of the sun,
setting
To close the day up, Hector's life is done.
HECTOR.
I am unarm'd; forego> this vantage, Greek.
give up
ACHILLES.
Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek.
[HECTOR falls.]
So, Ilion, fall thou next! Now, Troy, sink down;
Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.
On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain>
vehemently
'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.'
[A retreat sounded.]
Hark!> a retreat upon our Grecian part.
Listen!
MYRMIDON.
The Trojan trumpets sound the like, my lord.
ACHILLES.
The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth
And, stickler-like>, the armies separates.
like a judge, or arbiter
My half-supp'd> sword, that frankly [I] would have fed [more],
half-satiated
Pleas'd with this dainty bait, thus goes to bed.
[Sheathes his sword.]
Come, tie his body to my horse's tail;
Along the field I will the Trojan trail.
[Exeunt.]
The Tempest
- written 1610 or 1611; performed in 1611 at Whitehall before James I
- first printed in 1623 Folio
- Sources: Aeneid, Metamorphoses, Montaigne’s Essays
I, 1, 1-17
[On a ship at sea; a tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard]
[Enter a SHIPMASTER and a BOATSWAIN severally]
MASTER. Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN. Here, master: what cheer?>
how goes it?
MASTER. Good! Speak to the mariners: fall to't yarely>, or we run ourselves
aground: bestir , bestir.
yarely: promptly
[Exit] [Enter MARINERS]
BOATSWAIN. Heigh, my hearts! cheerly , cheerly, my hearts! yare, yare! > Take in
the topsail. Tend to th' master's whistle.  Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room
enough.
yare: at once, right now
[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, FERDINAND, GONZALO, and OTHERS]
ALONSO. Good boatswain, have care. Where's the master? Play the men.
BOATSWAIN. I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO. Where is the master, boatswain?
BOATSWAIN. Do you not hear him? You mar our labour: keep your cabins: you do
assist the storm.
GONZALO. Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN. When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers> for the name of
king? To cabin! silence! Trouble us not.
roarers: roaring waves
31
GONZALO. Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN. None that I more love than myself. You are counsellor: if you can
command these elements to silence, and work the peace of the present, we will not
hand a rope more. Use your authority: if you cannot, give thanks you have lived so
long, and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap.
[To the Mariners] Cheerly, good hearts! [To Gonzalo] Out of our way, I say. [Exit]
I, 2, 1-33
[The Island. Before the cell of PROSPERO]
[Enter PROSPERO and MIRANDA]
MIRANDA. If by your art, my dearest father, you have
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay> them.
appease
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to th' welkin's> cheek,
waning cheeks of the heavens
Dashes the fire out. O! I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel,
Who had, no doubt, some noble creatures in her,
Dash'd all to pieces. O! the cry did knock
Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er>
before
It should the good ship so have swallow'd and
The fraughting souls> within her.
the ship's crew
PROSPERO. Be collected: No more amazement: tell your piteous heart
There's no harm done.
MIRANDA. O! woe the day!
PROSPERO. No harm.
I have done nothing but in care of thee,
Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who
Art ignorant of what thou art, nought knowing
Of whence I am: nor that I am more better
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell,
And thy no greater father.
MIRANDA.
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
PROSPERO.
'Tis time
I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand,
And pluck my magic garment from me. [Lays down his mantle] So:
Lie there my art.  Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort.
The direful spectacle of the wrack, which touch'd
The very virtue of compassion in thee,
I have with such provision in mine art
So safely ordered that there is no soul 
No, not so much perdition as an hair
Betid> to any creature in the vessel
betide: happened
Which thou heard'st cry, which thou saw'st sink. Sit down;
For thou must now know farther.
32
I, 2, 53-59
PROSPERO
Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since,
Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and
A prince of power.
MIRANDA
Sir, are not you my father?
PROSPERO
Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and
She said thou wast my daughter: and thy father
Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir
And princess,  no worse issued.
I, 2, 66-78
PROSPERO
My brother and thy uncle, call'd Antonio 
I pray thee, mark me,  that a brother should
Be so perfidious!  he, whom next thyself,
Of all the world I lov'd, and to him put
The manage of my state; as at that time
Through all the signories it was the first,
And Prospero the prime duke, being so reputed
In dignity, and for the liberal arts,
Without a parallel: those being all my study,
The government I cast upon my brother,
And to my state grew stranger, being transported
And rapt> in secret studies. Thy false uncle 
Dost thou attend me?
carried away
MIRANDA
Sir, most heedfully.
I, 2, 188-194
PROSPERO
Come away, servant, come! I am ready now.
Approach, my Ariel; Come!
[Enter ARIEL]
ARIEL.
All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come
To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly,
To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride
On the curl'd clouds; to thy strong bidding task
Ariel and all his quality>.
I, 2, 321-22
PROSPERO
Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself
Upon thy wicked dam>, come forth!
[Enter CALIBAN]
magic powers
mother [of animals]
33
I, 2, 332-367
CALIBAN
I must eat my dinner.
This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother,
Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first,
Thou strok'st me and made much of me; wouldst give me
Water with berries in't; and teach me how
To name the bigger light, and how the less,
That burn by day and night: and then I lov'd thee,
And show'd thee all the qualities o' th' isle,
The fresh springs, brine-pits>, barren place, and fertile.
Curs'd be I that did so!
I, 2, 346-367
PROSPERO.
Thou most lying slave,
Whom stripes> may move, not kindness! I have us'd thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodg'd thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
salt water pools
whip blows
CALIBAN.
Oh ho! Oh ho! Would it had been done!
Thou didst prevent me; I had peopl'd else
This isle with Calibans.
MIRANDA
Abhorred slave,
Which any print of goodness wilt not take,
Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee,
Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour
One thing or other: when thou didst not, savage,
Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble> like
A thing most brutish, I endow'd thy purposes
With words that made them known: but thy vile race,
Though thou didst learn, had that in't which good natures
Could not abide> to be with; therefore wast thou
Deservedly confin'd into this rock, who hadst
Deserv'd more than a prison.
CALIBAN
You taught me language, and my profit on't
Is, I know how to curse: the red plague rid> you,
For learning me your language!
Ariel’s song
[399-404]
Full fathom five thy father lies.
Those are pearls that were his eyes;
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
babble
tolerate
kill, destroy
34
IV, 1, 146-58
PROSPERO
You do look, my son, in a mov'd sort,
As if you were dismay'd: be cheerful, sir:
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it> inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
the globe
V, 1, 185-88
MIRANDA
O, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world
That has such people in't!
PROSPERO
'Tis new to thee.
EPILOGUE
PROSPERO
Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own;
Which is most faint; now 'tis true,
I must be here confin'd by you,
Or sent to Naples. Let me not,
Since I have my dukedom got,
And pardon'd the deceiver, dwell
In this bare island by your spell:
But release me from my bands
With the help of your good hands.
Gentle breath of yours my sails
Must fill, or else my project fails,
Which was to please. Now I want>
Spirits to enforce, art to enchant;
And my ending is despair,
Unless I be reliev'd by prayer,
Which pierces so that it assaults
Mercy itself, and frees all faults.
As you from crimes would pardon'd be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
lack