HAKESPEARE'S SONNETS
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OMMENTARY
SONNET 135 CXXXV
CXXXV |
This and the following sonnets ring the changes on the potential bawdy connotations of one word, 'will'. Commentators have identified six or seven relevant meanings (not all of them bawdy). Any reader of the two sonnets (this and the following one) soon realises that the hidden meanings are of greater importance than the surface meaning. In fact the obvious signification of will as 'volition, desire, intent' is often suppressed entirely, and a straightforward reading of the poem, bypassing or ignoring all the bawdy puns, tends to produce nonsense. One therefore has to be aware of these other meanings to make sense out of apparent nonsense. (The different meanings of 'will' are given below left, and, where appropriate, in the main commentary). It must be said that the poem is not entirely flattering to the woman addressed. One wonders whether or not she was ever shown any of these productions. Probably not, because they are written so entirely from a male perspective that it would be considered appropriate only to circulate them within a coterie of male friends. Women were considered to be deficient in understanding of many topics. Lord Cecil reprimanded an ambassador for discussing a particular subject with Queen Elizabeth because, as he said, 'it was a matter of such weight, being too much for a woman's knowledge'. But here the subject matter is, apart from its indelicacy, of such a nature that any woman seeing it, if she were of an independent mind, would be inclined to dismiss it as being typical male mythology, totally unrelated to the way in which women act and think. For it is based on the viewpoint, common to all male dominated societies, that the female through her sexuality constitutes a threat to established order. Any woman was potentially regarded as a man eater and capable of alluring males to her so that they might be held in bondage for evermore, as in the Homeric myth of Circe. Although not clearly stated, except perhaps in folk literature, the bondage was often that of having to satisfy her enormous sexual appetite. The subject of the Chaucer's Wife of Bath's tale is the attempt to discover 'what women most desire'. The answer finally given is that they most wish for dominion over their husbands, but many counter suggestions are made before this conclusion is reached. GBE (p.253) cites a poem by Nicholas Breton, published in Melancholicke Humours 1600.
dugge = breast, nipple. The theme is the usual one that all will be well provided the woman's libido is satisfied and she receives a good rogering. The sonnet, working on a similar theme, is about as direct as it could be, and it implies that the woman has a capacious vagina, that she takes all comers, and that she cannot get enough of them. Not exactly the sort of flattering poem one would wish to address to the mistress of one's heart. |
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The
meanings of will which recur throughout
the poem are as follows. 1. Wish, desire; thing desired. 2. Carnal desire, lust, sexual longing. 3. The auxiliary verb denoting a future tense, as in 'it will be so, thou wilt vouchsafe'. 4. Willfulness, obstinacy, determination. 5. A slang term for the male sex organ. As in - this night he fleshes his will in the spoil of her honour. AW.IV.iii.14. 6. A slang term for the female sex organ. 7. The name 'William'. |
Nevertheless the sonnet is essentially one of despair. It sues to be recognised and pleads for recompense 'more than that tongue that more hath more expressed', but both it and the following one leave the impression that the author is excluded from the charmed circle. Although others seem to be enjoying the dark lady's favours with very little restriction, the same is not true for the poet, and he is left on the outside, his mind inflamed, and his spirit and body cast into the outer darkness.
The most interesting precursor of this sonnet is The Ballad of Will which is uncertainly attributed to Thomas Wyatt. I give the text of it below. |
THE 1609 QUARTO VERSION
To thy ſweet will making addition thus. Wilt thou whoſe will is large and ſpatious, Not once vouchſafe to hide my will in thine, Shall will in others ſeeme right gracious, And in my will no faire acceptance ſhine: The ſea all water,yet receiues raine ſtill, And in aboundance addeth to his ſtore, So thou beeing rich in Will adde to thy Will, One will of mine to make thy large Will more. Let no vnkinde,no faire beſeechers kill, Thinke all but one,and me in that one Will. |
The italicisation of some of the 'will's in the Q text implies an effort to distinguish them in meaning from those presented in ordinary script. The difficulty with following the typescript rigidly is that the Q text is generally very arbitrary in such matters, in some sonnets italicising a word while in others, where the use seems to be exactly comparable, a plain typeface is used. In this sonnet the italicised Wills could relate to its uses where the predominant meaning is the name 'William'. However even that explanation is doubtful for its occurrences in lines 2, 11 and 12 only obliquely fits that meaning. I have compromised by omitting the italicisation and retaining the capital letters for those instances of 'Will' in which it is found. Readers in any case have to bear in mind the large numbers of meanings which the word carries, and allow in each case the relevant suggestions to filter into their minds. | |||
1. Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
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1. 'No matter what or who other women have to satisfy their desires, you have your own Will(iam)', or 'you have your own insatiable vagina (Will)', or 'you have a compliant male whose penis (Will) satisfies you'. The line echoes proverbial and folk wisdom about women's desires, and their ability to have their way by fair means or foul. As for example 'Women will have their wills' and 'Will will have will though will woe win', which last presumably means 'Desire will have what it wants, even though it brings sorrow', applicable to both males and females. The predominant meaning of 'Will' here is possibly 'William', which could apply to a) the poet; b) the poet's friend; c) the woman's husband. There is general agreement about a), but no one knows if b) and c) are relevant. None of the other lines of the poem confirm unequivocally that there is more than one William, although it seems quite clear that there is more than one lover. If the poet's friend's name is Will then it narrows the field of candidates of known names who might be the 'lovely boy' of the sonnets. But the evidence is far from clear and may be interpreted either way, for Will or not for Will. | |
2. And Will to boot, and Will in over-plus; | 2.
to boot = in addition, over and above
what you need, have, want. in over-plus = in excessive surplus. Will here probably puns on the meanings William, sexual craving, penis. |
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3. More than enough am I that vexed thee still,
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3. This and
the following line are of uncertain
import. This one probably includes the quirky hidden allusion to Will
am I = William. in the deep
nook, where once |
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4. To thy sweet will making addition thus.
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4.
The difficulty with these two lines (3 and
4) is that they are out of harmony with the rest of the poem. They
imply
that the poet's love pleas have been successful, and that he is allowed
to have sex with her. But if that is so, then the subsequent begging
for
admittance is not necessary. He is already receiving what he claims to
be
so desirous of. Perhaps one could solve the problem by putting a
question
mark at the end of this line, causing the am I of
the previous line
to be an interrogative rather than a direct statement of fact. thy sweet will = your amorous desires, your sweet cunt. making addition = adding something to, putting something in. thus = in this way i.e. by vexing you continually; by having intercourse with you. |
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5. Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious,
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5.
Wilt thou = will you? Are you (not)
willing to? whose will is large and spacious = who has such large and insatiable sexual desires, who are so willing to accommodate all lovers, who has such a large and roomy vagina. |
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6. Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine? |
6.
vouchsafe = grant, permit, allow.
A word much in use in the bible and prayer books generally. Phrases
such
as 'Vouchsafe O Lord unto thy servant' are common.
The liturgical
vocabulary of words such as vouchsafe, gracious, will, brings this
sonnet
to the edge of an abyss of blasphemy. It is almost as if the poet, in
his
agony, wishes to be arraigned for his idolatrous infatuation. The echo
of
not my will but thine be done from Christ's
agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane, which comes close to identifying the poet with Christ and
the
dark lady with God the Father, perhaps does no more than confirm that
Shakespeare
was imbued with readings from Christian literature. But it is difficult
to believe that he was unaware of these echoes. Possibly he decided to
allow
them not because he wished to drag in the sacred name of the Godhead to
a sordid affair of sexual mistrust, but to point the moral that all
love
is equally mysterious and can never find the appropriate or adequate
words
to transmit or explain itself. to hide my will in thine = to merge our desires as one, to have intercourse. |
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7. Shall will in others seem right gracious, | 7.
will in others = others' penises;
others who have the name William, other's sexual desires. right gracious = truly adorable, acceptable, enjoyable etc. Possibly with a hint of class snobbery. An earl's dick might be more acceptable than that of a peasant or a mere player. An earl was addressed as 'Your grace'. |
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8. And in my will no fair acceptance shine? | 8.
in my will = for my penis; for my
sexual desires. no fair acceptance shine = there is no corresponding shining welcome. |
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9. The sea, all water, yet receives rain still, |
9. The poet now turns to a more grandiose metaphor from nature. Surely if the sea can continue to receive moisture from all sources then his beloved can follow such an example and take all those who desire her. The same metaphor is used in Twelfth Night. JK thinks that it is 'less seamy' than here, i.e. less grossly sexual. In fact it is not so, since the Twelfth Night episode finishes with an image of male detumescence, and quite possibly the whole speech was accompanied with obscene gestures on the stage. O spirit of
love! how quick and fresh art thou,
The 'validity' and 'pitch' in the above quotation probably refers also to the strength of the male erection, and the final line to the inadequacy of male love-making, which is over in a minute. The date of Twelfth Night is c.1601-2. |
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10. And in abundance addeth to his store; | 10.
in abundance = abundantly, with great
largess, bounteously. addeth = adds. his store = its (the sea's) reserves, quantities of water. |
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11. So thou, being rich in Will, add to thy Will | 11. Just as the sea, being rich in water, adds still more, so you, being rich in Will (in its various senses), may add yet more to your desires and Wills. | |
12. One will of mine, to make thy large will
more.
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12.
one will of mine = a desire of mine
(to have intercourse with you, to be with you); one penis, which is
mine.
See the next sonnet, line 12. to make thy large will more = to increase your rapacious sexual pleasure, to swell out your large cunt, to make your store of Williams increase. |
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13. Let no unkind, no fair
beseechers kill; |
13. A difficult line, with no agreement as to its meaning. Some editors prefer to take the second 'No' as the utterance of a refusal by the woman. 'Let no unkind 'No!' of yours kill those who plead their love for you'. Lovers' refusals were, in lovers' parlance, said to be so wounding as to kill the suitor. The fair beseechers are the lovers of the fair damsel. Alternatively unkind may be taken as a noun signifying cruelty. 'Let no cruelty kill off your admirers, me being one of them'. kill might also have a sexual reference to 'dying', a slang term for having an orgasm. | |
14. Think all but one, and me in that one Will. |
14. all but one = all wills are alike; all penises are alike; taking one is like taking another. A reference also to the phrase 'all's one', meaning 'it's of no great consequence', as in the following examples from the plays: DES. All's one. Good faith, how foolish are our minds! OTH.IV.3.22. Up with my
tent there! here will I lie tonight;
me in that
one Will
= that I am the William you desire; that whatever one is in you, it is
me;
that whatever that one pleasure is that you desire, I will give it to
you.
The meanings of this line are deliberately laden with ambiguities and
innuendo.
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THE BALLAD OF WILL I will and
yet I may not, Will willing
is in vain, Because I
will and may not, Foy! that I
will and cannot Thus wishers
wants their will Since that I
will and shall not, |
This poem is found in a manuscript (BM Harleian 78) containing other Wyatt poems. It is not however in Foxwell's edition which I have transcribed for the Wyatt pages on this website. Muir gives it as a doubtful Wyatt poem. However its authorship is not here a matter of great import, since its interest lies mainly in the way it rings the changes on the single word 'will'. It is doubtful that it has the same bawdy connotations as Shakespeare's two sonnets, 135 and 136. Nevertheless it is quite clearly a poem about sexual desire, and the reader is free to interpret it as liberally or as innocently as he or she wishes, which was no doubt the writer's intent. If it is a genuine Wyatt poem, or contemporary with him, it predates this sonnet by at least fifty years.
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First line index | Title page and Thorpe's Dedication | Some Introductory Notes to the Sonnets | Sonnets as plain text 1-154 | Text facsimiles | Other related texts of the period |
Picture
Gallery |
Thomas Wyatt Poems | Other Authors | General notes for background details, general policies etc. | Map of the site | Valentine Poems |
London Bridge as it was in Shakespeare's day, circa 1600. | Views of London as it was in 1616. | Views of Cheapside London, from a print of 1639. | The Carrier's Cosmography. A guide to all the Carriers in London. As given by John Taylor in 1637. | Oxquarry Books Ltd | |
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