Post by Harry on Sept 19, 2002 19:07:06 GMT -5
Lo, as a careful huswife runs to catch,
One of her feathered creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch
In pursuit of the thing she would have stay:
Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,
Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent,
To follow that which flies before her face:
Not prizing her poor infant's discontent;
So run'st thou after that which flies from thee,
Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind,
But if thou catch thy hope turn back to me:
And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind.
So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will,
If thou turn back and my loud crying still.
And now for something completely different. What's a domestic scene doing in the midst of the Dark Lady sonnets? Amidst all the sexual conflict and angst, we get a metaphor of a housewife, her baby, and a bunch of chickens! The Poet as a baby? The Dark Lady as a mother? Other men as chickens? It all seems so improbable.
I can never make up my mind over whether the sonnets are in the order written, or in the order desired by Shakespeare, or in no particular order besides that of the publisher. At first glance, this sonnet seems out of place. What comes before and after doesn't relate at all to what is here. On the other hand, I wonder if this sonnet doesn't serve the same function as the gravedigger in Hamlet.
This is also a "Will" sonnet. "Will" appears just once, but with it's usual ambiguity.
One of her feathered creatures broke away,
Sets down her babe and makes all swift dispatch
In pursuit of the thing she would have stay:
Whilst her neglected child holds her in chase,
Cries to catch her whose busy care is bent,
To follow that which flies before her face:
Not prizing her poor infant's discontent;
So run'st thou after that which flies from thee,
Whilst I thy babe chase thee afar behind,
But if thou catch thy hope turn back to me:
And play the mother's part, kiss me, be kind.
So will I pray that thou mayst have thy Will,
If thou turn back and my loud crying still.
And now for something completely different. What's a domestic scene doing in the midst of the Dark Lady sonnets? Amidst all the sexual conflict and angst, we get a metaphor of a housewife, her baby, and a bunch of chickens! The Poet as a baby? The Dark Lady as a mother? Other men as chickens? It all seems so improbable.
I can never make up my mind over whether the sonnets are in the order written, or in the order desired by Shakespeare, or in no particular order besides that of the publisher. At first glance, this sonnet seems out of place. What comes before and after doesn't relate at all to what is here. On the other hand, I wonder if this sonnet doesn't serve the same function as the gravedigger in Hamlet.
This is also a "Will" sonnet. "Will" appears just once, but with it's usual ambiguity.