Sugred

[poliphilo]

Here's heresy.

I don't  like Mr Wm Shakespeare's sugred Sonnets. 

First thing is they're just so damn poetical.

Second thing is they're just so damn mechanical. 

Third thing is they're just so damn clever. 

Sometimes I think they're as much a work of fiction as any of the plays.  Is there real emotion in them? Perhaps, but it's hidden under so much conceit and ornament that you can never be sure.

Shakespeare's plays are my religion but the Sonnets? You can keep 'em.

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

There have been times, like you, when I've wanted to like one of the other guys more. But none of them has anything like Shakespeare's range.

Marlowe, Middleton, Webster, Jonson are all of them great writers. If Shakespeare didn't exist we'd value them all a whole lot more. But since he does, they're condemned to be in his shadow.