October 2016 – Page 3 – Interesting Literature

A Short Analysis of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 9: ‘Is it for fear’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

We continue our exploration of William Shakespeare’s sonnets with a brief analysis of Sonnet 9, yet another ‘Procreation Sonnet’ in which the Bard endeavours to find new ways of persuading the Fair Youth to marry and have children. ‘Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye’ is not a well-known sonnet, so a brief summary and paraphrase of the meaning of Sonnet 9 may be helpful, along with a bit of close analysis.

Is it for fear to wet a widow’s eye,
That thou consumest thy self in single life?
Ah! if thou issueless shalt hap to die,
The world will wail thee like a makeless wife;
The world will be thy widow and still weep
That thou no form of thee hast left behind,
When every private widow well may keep
By children’s eyes, her husband’s shape in mind:

A Very Short Biography of Anne Locke

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Anne Locke (c. 1530-c. 1590) is not a well-known figure in the annals of English poetry, yet she has an important and interesting – not to mention little-known – claim to literary fame, so her biography is worth dwelling on. As we discuss in our new book about obscure and forgotten books, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History, Locke was not only the first Englishwoman to write a sonnet sequence, but the first English poet of either gender to do so.

A Short Analysis of Henry Vaughan’s ‘The Retreat’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Henry Vaughan (1622-95) was a Welsh Metaphysical Poet, although his name is not quite so familiar as, say, Andrew Marvell, he who wrote ‘To His Coy Mistress‘. His poem ‘The Retreat’ (sometimes the original spelling, ‘The Retreate’, is preserved) is about the loss of heavenly innocence experienced during childhood, and a desire to regain this lost state of ‘angel infancy’. What follows is a brief summary and analysis of ‘The Retreat’, paying particular attention to Vaughan’s language and imagery.

The Retreat

Happy those early days! when I
Shined in my angel infancy.
Before I understood this place
Appointed for my second race,
Or taught my soul to fancy aught
But a white, celestial thought;
When yet I had not walked above
A mile or two from my first love,
And looking back, at that short space,
Could see a glimpse of His bright face;

Five Fascinating Facts about William Caxton

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

1. The first book printed by Caxton in English was a book about Troy.

Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (alternatively spelt Recueil des Histoires de Troye) was printed by Caxton in 1475. It was the first book printed in English, though it wasn’t actually printed in England: at the time, Caxton was living in Belgium and it was published in Bruges in 1475. (Actually, the date of publication may have been 1474 or even 1473, but ‘ca. 1475’ is the date given by Caxton.)

The book was a translation of a French courtly romance written by a chaplain to Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, named Raoul Lefevre. Caxton would go on to print nearly 90 different books over the next two decades. Caxton’s translation of this Troy book would also inspire an early Elizabethan play. Caxton’s Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye would serve as the model for the Tudor morality play Horestes (1567), about the Greek myth of Orestes (most memorably dramatized by ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus).

A Short Analysis of William Blake’s ‘The Sick Rose’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Sick Rose’ was published in William Blake’s Songs of Experience in 1794. The poem remains a baffling one, with Blake’s precise meaning difficult to ascertain. Many different interpretations have been offered, so below we sketch out some of the possible ways of analysing ‘The Sick Rose’ in terms of its imagery.