‘NEW-FOUND METHODS AND ... COMPOUNDS STRANGE': READING THE 1640 'POEMS: WRITTEN BY WIL SHAKE- SPEARE. GENT.' Faith Acker A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2012 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/3461 This item is protected by original copyright ‘New-found methods and . compounds strange’: Reading the 1640 Poems: Written by Wil. Shake-speare. Gent. Faith Acker This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 11 October, 2012 iii Abstract The second edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets, titled Poems: Written by Wil. Shake-Speare, Gent, and published by stationer John Benson in 1640, was a text typical of its time. In an effort to update the old-fashioned sonnet sequence in which its contents had first reached print, the compiler or editor of the Bensonian version rearranged the poems from the earlier quarto text, adding titles and other texts thought to have been written by or about the sonnets’ author. The immediate reception of the 1640 Poems was a quiet one, but the volume’s contents and structure served as the foundation for more than half of the editions of Shakespeare’s sonnets produced in the eighteenth century. In part due to the textual instability created by the presence of two disparate arrangements of the collection, Shakespeare’s sonnets served only as supplements to the preferred Shakespearean canon from 1709 to 1790. When, at the end of the century, the sonnets finally entered the canon in Edmond Malone’s groundbreaking edition of the plays and poems together, Benson’s version was quickly overshadowed by the earlier text, which was preferred as both more authorial and, due to Malone’s careful critical readings, autobiographical. In contrast to the many scholars since Malone who have overlooked or denigrated the Poems of 1640, this thesis studies the second edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets within the framework of the early modern culture that produced it, arguing that Benson’s edition provides valuable evidence about the editorial habits and literary preferences of the individuals and culture for which it was originally intended. v 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Faith Acker, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 79,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2009 and as a candidate for the degree of PhD in September 2010; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2009 and 2012. Date signature of candidate 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date signature of supervisor 3. Permission for electronic publication: (to be signed by both candidate and supervisor) In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: Access to all of printed copy but embargo of all of electronic publication of thesis for a period of two years on the following ground(s): publication would preclude future publication. Date signature of candidate signature of supervisor vii Acknowledgments This thesis is the product not only of three years’ study of Shakespeare’s sonnets and their early treatment, but of many years of secondary, undergraduate, and postgraduate work related to the greater study of English literature. Thanks, Mom, for making me read Antony and Cleopatra all those years ago, and for taking me to see Julius Caesar not very long afterwards. Thanks also to Catherine Cunningham, Dr Donald Hubele, Professor Lorna Hutson, Dr Eric Langley, Dr Edwin McAllister, Dr Kathryn Moncrief, and Dr Barabara Murray, whose classes and discussions of Shakespeare have challenged me and inspired me. An even greater thanks to Dr Alex Davis, whose critique of and suggestions for my M.Litt dissertation forced me to read more widely, study more carefully, and pursue my ideas more fully, to Professor Neil Rhodes, whose partial supervision of this thesis has expanded my focus and my examples quite splendidly. Thanks, as well, to Professor Lorna Hutson and Dr Sonia Massai for their generous advice, critique, and encouragement during my viva. This thesis could never have been accomplished without the assistance of numerous libraries and librarians in North America and the United Kingdom; abundant thanks must go to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; Birmingham Central Library; Bodleian Library; British Library; Cambridge University Library; Cushing Memorial Library; Folger Shakespeare Library; Harry Ransom Center; Huntington Library; John Rylands University Library; London Metropolitan Archives; National Library of Scotland, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Pierpont Morgan Library; Queen’s University Library, Belfast; Rosenbach Foundation Archives; Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; Shakespeare Institute; St John’s College Library, Cambridge; University of Birmingham Library; University of Edinburgh Library; University of Nottingham Library; University of Pennsylvania Library; University of St Andrews Library; Westminster Abbey Archives; and Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge, for granting me access to their collections and giving counsel and advice when requested. I am particularly indebted to LuEllen de Haven, Dr Heather Wolfe, and Dr Georgianna Ziegler (among others) at the Folger Shakespeare Library; Rachel Hart and Moira Mackenzie (among others) at the University of St Andrews; Elizabeth E. Fuller of the Rosenbach; Adam Green of Wren Library, Trinity College, Cambridge; Colin Harris and Sarah Wheale of the Bodleian Library; John Harrison of St John’s College Library, Cambridge; Dr Bob Kosovsky of the New York Public Library; and George Stanley of the National Library of Scotland, whose efforts far exceeded my expectations; their discussions, suggestions, and input have been invaluable to my research and understanding of their collections and early modern poetry more widely. This thesis has also benefited from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s generous grant-in-aid that enabled me to participate in their seminar ‘In Praise of Scribes’ in the spring and early summer of 2011. I am indebted to Dr Peter Beal for his guidance and insight during the seminar and over the following months, and also to my fellow participants, whose varied subjects of study have broadened my understanding of early modern manuscripts and present-day manuscript studies, with particular thanks to Dr Joshua Eckhardt and Dr Matthew Zarnowiecki for their willingness to discuss, among other subjects and texts, Folger MSs V.a.103, V.a.148, and V.a.339, as well as Portland MS Pw.V.37. Aki, Alan, Alyssa, D. and K. Arnold, Beth, J. and M. Burney, Catherine, Chera, Christine, Claire, Dani, Dominic, Dorothy, Edwina, Elinor, Hannah, Helen, ix C. and D2. Hoopes, Ginger, Grace2, Jason, Jennie, Jesse, Jo, Joel, John4, Jonathan, Josh, Katherine, Kathleen, Lesley, Liam, Lisa, Marina, J. and S. Martin, MP, Drs L. and M. Maxfield, Nigel, Dr C. Olsen, Patrick, Rachel2, Rebecca3, Roberta, Ros, Rowan, Sarah, Tiffany, Toria, Vicky, Will, Xiaoyen, and the greater crew (and “hangers-on”) of 66 N. Street and families of Hope Park and St James Leith, you have corporately and individually blessed me beyond comprehension. Thanks for the advice, editing, food, friendship, suggestions, support, spare beds and couches, and your specific acts of participation in one or more of the numerous consumptions of a wide variety of beverages and comestables enjoyed in collegiality and friendship. Mom and Dad, you are amazing, and I am blessed every day to have the greatest parents in the world. Thank you for everything. Abundant thanks to my beloved Isaac for cleaning house and doing laundry, making many suppers and countless cups of tea and coffee, providing alcohol and coffee in moments of stress and celebration, letting me vent, and loving me despite everything. You make me a better woman, and I love you. Andy, you have been the greatest advisor a student of Shakespeare could ever imagine. To adequately—or even sufficiently, I feel—express my gratitude would be impossible, but I give you in this sentence the last remaining comma splice in my thesis, and a very hearty thank you for your advice, critique, patience, and support. Finally, to the greatest inspirer of this ensuing thesis, Mr. I. B., all approbation and that literary eternity suggested by our ever-living poet, wisheth this quite hopeful adventurer setting forth the following.