A Quiverful of Spears

As many of the more astute among you will know, I am moving through this Greenblatt bio of Shakespeare at the usual snail’s pace.
What can I say though, good things deserve to be savored.
Like that Fountain-Moment© I had at Niagara Falls [see last photo of the blog, just south of this one]… you want some moments to never end!
So today’s reading in the Greenblatt was Chapter Eight, all about sonnetry.
The Sonnets.
Reminded me of a treasured book in the Bookpuddle Library I share here with my alcoholic cat, Jack. The book is called umm… Shakespeare’s Sonnets.
Let me be very clear as to why I give this book a full Five Spears out of a possible Five Spears... it makes Wilburt’s sonnets readily accessible and/or understandable to the average common reader (which I consider myself to be). It is no exaggeration to say that this Arden version has become a treasure to me. I have loved Bill's sonnets ever since committing #116 (my favorite) to memory a few years ago, but I admit that many of them have left me with one profound thought at the end of the fourteenth line, and that thought is... "huh"?
It is truly a sad predicament to be left in such a state of ignorance when Shakespeare is ALWAYS saying something AWESOME! Let’s face it, the guy was a phenom!
On any given day, he could have eaten a bowl of alphabet soup and then randomly barfed better poetry than anyone has painstakingly written since his day!
And I am stupid. Even on my best days, quite dumb as hell.
So, this book has come closest to a complete cure for me, in my severe sonnet-ignorance.
I am now seldom (if ever) left in the dark by an obscure phrase, line, or context, because the notes on the opposing page are right there to help me through those exact points of difficulty.
Hence, I unreservedly recommend this affordably priced 3rd Series edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones to any and all sonnet lovers. Let it "give physic" to your ailment.
P.S. It begins with an excellent over 100 page introduction and follows the sonnets with an equally great exposition of "A Lover's Complaint".

Quit reading this and go order the thing HERE.

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