WILLIAM J.KENNEDY had earned the confidence and security of having mastered his own poetic styles,and even of surpassing Marlowe's. 'The Phoenix and Turtle' The anthologizing tenor of these plays corresponds to two publishing ven- tures that involved Shakespeare just before and after the turn of the century. The first is The Passionate Pilgrim,printed by T.Judson for William Jaggard probably in I 599,an anthology of twenty poems that opens with two of the poet-playwright's yet unpublished Sonnets(numbers 138 and 144),along with versions of three sonnets from Love's Labour's Lost.The second is Robert Chester's Love's Martyr (Stationers'Register I6o1),a long poem about Nature's plea for the phoenix to reproduce by mating with a turtledove in Wales,to which was appended Shakespeare's The Phoenix and Turtle' along with shorter poems on the same theme by John Marston,George Chapman,Ben Jonson,and anonymous others.Dedicated to the Welsh- born John Salusbury,the volume presumably celebrates the latter's recent elevation to knighthood.But Shakespeare's contribution,framed in a defla- tionary trochaic tetrameter to express the willingness of the phoenix and turtledove to immolate themselves,and then in a jangling monorhyme to express Reason's lament,seems an implausible attempt at commemoration. Shakespeare's motivation may well have been commercial and even self- promotional.Just as Shakespeare might have enjoyed sharing the company of young,rising poets at the turn of the new century,so might they have hoped to gain from sharing his company.Chapman's 'Peristeros,or the Male Turtle'seemingly echoes Shakespearean topoi when it emblematizes the bird as a figure of 'truth eterniz'd'.6 Marston's'Perfectioni Hymnus'builds to a deferential conclusion that acknowledges Shakespeare's priority in stature and ability:Now feebler Genius end thy slighter riming'(p.I87).More complicated is Shakespeare's relationship with Ben Jonson,for whom the year 16oo-I marked a turning point.7 After the success of Every Man Out of His Humour in autumn 1599,Jonson renounced his earlier theatrical hackwork and devoted himself to an intensive programme of classical study,the better to fortify printed editions of his work with learned annota- tions and scholarly glosses.The play's publication in April 1600,dedicated to gentlemen at the Inns of Court,exemplifies his new format.And Jonson's next play,Poetaster (16o1),dramatizes his new literary preferences by depicting the banishment from Augustus's Rome of Ovid,the exemplar of an old-fashioned courtly style in his amatory elegies,here a stand-in for Petrarchan verse,and by exalting the success of Horace,the master of a renovated plain style in his satires,epistles,and commendatory epigrams. 22
had earned the confidence and security of having mastered his own poetic styles, and even of surpassing Marlowe’s. ‘The Phoenix and Turtle’ The anthologizing tenor of these plays corresponds to two publishing ventures that involved Shakespeare just before and after the turn of the century. The first is The Passionate Pilgrim, printed by T. Judson for William Jaggard probably in 1599, an anthology of twenty poems that opens with two of the poet-playwright’s yet unpublished Sonnets (numbers 138 and 144), along with versions of three sonnets from Love’s Labour’s Lost. The second is Robert Chester’s Love’s Martyr (Stationers’ Register 1601), a long poem about Nature’s plea for the phoenix to reproduce by mating with a turtledove in Wales, to which was appended Shakespeare’s ‘The Phoenix and Turtle’ along with shorter poems on the same theme by John Marston, George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and anonymous others. Dedicated to the Welshborn John Salusbury, the volume presumably celebrates the latter’s recent elevation to knighthood. But Shakespeare’s contribution, framed in a deflationary trochaic tetrameter to express the willingness of the phoenix and turtledove to immolate themselves, and then in a jangling monorhyme to express Reason’s lament, seems an implausible attempt at commemoration. Shakespeare’s motivation may well have been commercial and even selfpromotional. Just as Shakespeare might have enjoyed sharing the company of young, rising poets at the turn of the new century, so might they have hoped to gain from sharing his company. Chapman’s ‘Peristeros, or the Male Turtle’ seemingly echoes Shakespearean topoi when it emblematizes the bird as a figure of ‘truth eterniz’d’.16 Marston’s ‘Perfectioni Hymnus’ builds to a deferential conclusion that acknowledges Shakespeare’s priority in stature and ability: ‘Now feebler Genius end thy slighter riming’ (p. 187). More complicated is Shakespeare’s relationship with Ben Jonson, for whom the year 1600–1 marked a turning point.17 After the success of Every Man Out of His Humour in autumn 1599, Jonson renounced his earlier theatrical hackwork and devoted himself to an intensive programme of classical study, the better to fortify printed editions of his work with learned annotations and scholarly glosses.18 The play’s publication in April 1600, dedicated to gentlemen at the Inns of Court, exemplifies his new format. And Jonson’s next play, Poetaster (1601), dramatizes his new literary preferences by depicting the banishment from Augustus’s Rome of Ovid, the exemplar of an old-fashioned courtly style in his amatory elegies, here a stand-in for Petrarchan verse, and by exalting the success of Horace, the master of a renovated plain style in his satires, epistles, and commendatory epigrams. WILLIAM J. KENNEDY 22
Shakespeare and the development of English poetry Jonson's Horatian contributions to Love's Martyr ('Praeludium',Epos', Ode svOuoiotikn')affirm this commitment. Shakespeare would find Jonson's posture pallid and parched when mea- sured against the development of English poetry.It is perhaps no accident that his figure of the phoenix evokes Matthew Royden's nostalgic lament for Philip Sidney,An Elegie',first printed in the anthology The Phoenix Nest (I593),and then re-printed along with Spenser's lament for Sidney, Astrophel,in the volume that features Colin Clouts Come Home Again (1595).Royden's poem expresses a wish that Sidney's spirit might rise from the phoenix's ashes,'an offspring neere that kinde,/But hardly a peere to that,I doubt'(3).9 Shakespeare's poem makes a bid to achieve this feat as its tetrameter verse and avian imagery replicate Sidney's in the Eighth Song of Astrophil and Stella,'In a grove most rich of shade,Where birds wanton musicke made'(I-2).It is possible too that Shakespeare's figuration of the phoenix owes something in a countervalent way to Sidney's deflated version of 'phenix Stellas state'in Sonnet 92 of Astrophil and Stella,as well as to other representations of the phoenix in Petrarchan sonnets by Lodge, William Smith,Giles Fletcher the Elder,and Michael Drayton.From Shakespeare's perspective,such late-Elizabethan lyrics afford warmer delight than the cold comfort inscribed in his rival's Horatian verse.Unlike the playwright of Poetaster,Shakespeare would never banish Ovid or Petrarch from his poetic pantheon. Shakespeare in fact defiantly reprises the tetrameter and Elizabethan ballad forms of his early-middle plays and imbues them with self-parody in his later plays.The Fool's gnomic songs in King Lear deploy the trochaic tetrameter couplet form used for fairy spells,charms,incantations,and adjurations in Midsummer Night's Dream,as do Autolycus's sales-pitches in Winter's Tale(4.4.214-25,301-1o)and Ariel's various interventions and Prospero's epilogue in The Tempest.In King Lear (3.2.73-6),the Fool gives a dark turn to the refrain of Feste's exit song from Twelfth Night.A similar desolation pervades Desdemona's Willow Song'in Othello 4.3.Guiderius and Arviragus's 'Fear no more the heat o'th'sun'functions as a requiem for Innogen in Cymbeline 4.2.259-70.And when in Winter's Tale Shakespeare finally makes his peace with Greene by using the latter's romance novel Pandosto for his plot,he assigns Autolycus an old-fashioned ballad,When daffodils begin to peer'(4.3.1-22),to convey the character's free-wheeling roguery.In these final stages of his career,the poet-playwright continues to inhabit a literary world that Jonson and others had repudiated.It is no anomaly that he agreed at least tacitly,and perhaps with real enthusiasm, to the publication in I609 of sonnets that he had drafted a decade and a half earlier. 23
Jonson’s Horatian contributions to Love’s Martyr (‘Praeludium’, ‘Epos’, ‘Ode enyusiastikZ’) affirm this commitment. Shakespeare would find Jonson’s posture pallid and parched when measured against the development of English poetry. It is perhaps no accident that his figure of the phoenix evokes Matthew Royden’s nostalgic lament for Philip Sidney, ‘An Elegie’, first printed in the anthology The Phoenix Nest (1593), and then re-printed along with Spenser’s lament for Sidney, Astrophel, in the volume that features Colin Clouts Come Home Again (1595). Royden’s poem expresses a wish that Sidney’s spirit might rise from the phoenix’s ashes, ‘an offspring neere that kinde, / But hardly a peere to that, I doubt’ (212–13).19 Shakespeare’s poem makes a bid to achieve this feat as its tetrameter verse and avian imagery replicate Sidney’s in the Eighth Song of Astrophil and Stella, ‘In a grove most rich of shade, / Where birds wanton musicke made’ (1–2). It is possible too that Shakespeare’s figuration of the phoenix owes something in a countervalent way to Sidney’s deflated version of ‘phenix Stellasstate’ in Sonnet 92 of Astrophil and Stella, as well as to other representations of the phoenix in Petrarchan sonnets by Lodge, William Smith, Giles Fletcher the Elder, and Michael Drayton.20 From Shakespeare’s perspective, such late-Elizabethan lyrics afford warmer delight than the cold comfort inscribed in his rival’s Horatian verse. Unlike the playwright of Poetaster, Shakespeare would never banish Ovid or Petrarch from his poetic pantheon. Shakespeare in fact defiantly reprises the tetrameter and Elizabethan ballad forms of his early-middle plays and imbues them with self-parody in his later plays. The Fool’s gnomic songs in King Lear deploy the trochaic tetrameter couplet form used for fairy spells, charms, incantations, and adjurations in Midsummer Night’s Dream, as do Autolycus’s sales-pitches in Winter’s Tale (4.4.214–25, 301–10) and Ariel’s various interventions and Prospero’s epilogue in The Tempest. In King Lear(3.2.73–6), the Fool gives a dark turn to the refrain of Feste’s exit song from Twelfth Night. A similar desolation pervades Desdemona’s ‘Willow Song’ in Othello 4.3. Guiderius and Arviragus’s ‘Fear no more the heat o’th’ sun’ functions as a requiem for Innogen in Cymbeline 4.2.259–70. And when in Winter’s Tale Shakespeare finally makes his peace with Greene by using the latter’s romance novel Pandosto for his plot, he assigns Autolycus an old-fashioned ballad, ‘When daffodils begin to peer’ (4.3.1–22), to convey the character’s free-wheeling roguery. In these final stages of his career, the poet-playwright continues to inhabit a literary world that Jonson and others had repudiated. It is no anomaly that he agreed at least tacitly, and perhaps with real enthusiasm, to the publication in 1609 of sonnets that he had drafted a decade and a half earlier. Shakespeare and the development of English poetry 23
WILLIAM J.KENNEDY The Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint The Sonnets might seem a belated response to Jonson and his advocacy of classicized verse.Certainly they illustrate Shakespeare's abiding interest in and allegiance to the motifs,forms,and modes of the early I59os.He had likely drafted the majority of his Sonnets in I591-5,revising and augmenting them during the intervening period,and circulating them in manuscript among readers who transcribed and expressed their delight in them.*The decision to publish them-whether his or the printer's or yet someone else's- at a time when the form was no longer popular brings their author and us back to that pivotal moment in I592 when Nashe's taunt and Greene's insult spurred him to test his competence against the canonical poetry of that time. In I59I Thomas Newman's piratical edition of Sidney's Astrophil and Stella (with an introduction by the self-promoting Nashe),ignited a sonnet-craze that burned for three years.2Sidney's sequence abounds in knowing allu- sions to Petrarch and continental Petrarchism,echoed conspicuously in Sonnet 47,What,have I thus betrayed my libertie?',which replays the renunciation motif of Petrarch's Sonnet 169;Sonnet 71,Who will in fairest booke of Nature know',which duplicates the argument of Petrarch's Sonnet 248;and Sonnet 99,'When far spent night perswades each mortall eye,which appropriates the topoi of Petrarch Sonnet 164, and of Ronsard's imitation,Amours 174.23 Astrophil and Stella further refers to Pleiade poetic theories in Sonnets 3,6,I5,28,and 74.Daniel's Delia,published piratically with Astrophil and Stella and then revised in I592 and in subsequent editions,refers to poems by Petrarch,Tasso, Desportes,and others.4 Watson's The Teares of Fancie(1593)incorporates echoes from Petrarch and Gascoigne.Lodge's Phyllis(1593)offers direct translations from Petrarch,Ronsard,Desportes,and others.Twenty homo- erotic sonnets addressed to a young man in Richard Barnfield's Cynthia (I594)gesture toward Ronsard's anacreontic verse.Shakespeare also had the precedent of Watson's above mentioned Hekatompathia (I582),a volume of translations from Petrarch,Serafino,Ariosto,Ronsard,and others,which includes snatches from the original Italian and French texts as well as commentaries on their sources,analogues,and moral import.And if he could keep his sides from splitting while reading it,he had the lumbering, unintentionally funny precedent of John Swoothern's Pandora(1584)with its hendecasyllabic translations of poems from Ronsard,Du Bellay,and Desportes. Daniel,Watson,Lodge,Barnfield,and Swoothern serve their Petrarchism straight up with results that elicit curiosity,admiration,and occasional laughter.Astrophil and Stella and the Petrarchan poems distributed 24
The Sonnets and A Lover’s Complaint The Sonnets might seem a belated response to Jonson and his advocacy of classicized verse. Certainly they illustrate Shakespeare’s abiding interest in and allegiance to the motifs, forms, and modes of the early 1590s. He had likely drafted the majority of his Sonnets in 1591–5, revising and augmenting them during the intervening period, and circulating them in manuscript among readers who transcribed and expressed their delight in them.21 The decision to publish them – whether his or the printer’s or yet someone else’s – at a time when the form was no longer popular brings their author and us back to that pivotal moment in 1592 when Nashe’s taunt and Greene’s insult spurred him to test his competence against the canonical poetry of that time. In 1591 Thomas Newman’s piratical edition of Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella (with an introduction by the self-promoting Nashe), ignited a sonnet-craze that burned for three years.22 Sidney’s sequence abounds in knowing allusions to Petrarch and continental Petrarchism, echoed conspicuously in Sonnet 47, ‘What, have I thus betrayed my libertie?’, which replays the renunciation motif of Petrarch’s Sonnet 169; Sonnet 71, ‘Who will in fairest booke of Nature know’, which duplicates the argument of Petrarch’s Sonnet 248; and Sonnet 99, ‘When far spent night perswades each mortall eye’, which appropriates the topoi of Petrarch Sonnet 164, and of Ronsard’s imitation, Amours 174. 23 Astrophil and Stella further refers to Ple´iade poetic theories in Sonnets 3, 6, 15, 28, and 74. Daniel’s Delia, published piratically with Astrophil and Stella and then revised in 1592 and in subsequent editions, refers to poems by Petrarch, Tasso, Desportes, and others.24 Watson’s The Teares of Fancie (1593) incorporates echoes from Petrarch and Gascoigne. Lodge’s Phyllis (1593) offers direct translations from Petrarch, Ronsard, Desportes, and others. Twenty homoerotic sonnets addressed to a young man in Richard Barnfield’s Cynthia (1594) gesture toward Ronsard’s anacreontic verse. Shakespeare also had the precedent of Watson’s above mentioned Hekatompathia (1582), a volume of translations from Petrarch, Serafino, Ariosto, Ronsard, and others, which includes snatches from the original Italian and French texts as well as commentaries on their sources, analogues, and moral import. And if he could keep his sides from splitting while reading it, he had the lumbering, unintentionally funny precedent of John Swoothern’s Pandora (1584) with its hendecasyllabic translations of poems from Ronsard, Du Bellay, and Desportes. Daniel, Watson, Lodge, Barnfield, and Swoothern serve their Petrarchism straight up with results that elicit curiosity, admiration, and occasional laughter. Astrophil and Stella and the Petrarchan poems distributed WILLIAM J. KENNEDY 24
Shakespeare and the development of English poetry throughout Gascoigne's novella The Adventures of Master FJ(1573,offering eight sonnets)and Nashe's novella Unfortunate Traveller(1594,sustaining a fictionalized characterization of Henry Howard,earl of Surrey,two sonnets, and a ballad)more knowingly transmit their Petrarchism through witty, ironic,self-deprecating speakers overpowered by their passions to anguished,often hilarious defeat.*The lesson of these poets was to canonize the form through self-conscious references to the continental Petrarchism upon which it was based.So what did Shakespeare do?Each had mined Petrarch and Ronsard,and Daniel,Lodge,and Swoothern had drawn from Desportes as well.Shakespeare largely avoided these models.But he might have gone to a younger,lesser known,often irreverent member of the French Pleiade who had fashioned his own dark lady in a clever send-up of his elders' Petrarchan sonneteering.Etienne Jodelle in his aptly and provocatively titled Contr'amours (published 1574),a mini-sequence of seven poems ripe enough for quick and greedy plucking,offered just such a palinodic repre- sentation of adulterous love gone awry,one capable of winning the approval of London's savvy readership.6 Shakespeare's analogous dark lady sonnets 127-52appear to be his earliest efforts in the genre.But a parallel and more ambitious series seems to have followed closely upon it.The year 1591 marked the publication not only of Sidney's and Daniel's sequences,but also of Spenser's Complaints,which,as we have seen,offered English readers a view of Petrarch and Du Bellay as poets with more than amatory interests, and as poets whose meditations on past,present,and future history drew as well upon classical texts from Virgil,Horace,and Ovid.Even Daniel had incorporated Horatian and Ovidian'eternizing'motifs into his sonnets about Delia.And so would Shakespeare in his eternizing sonnets in the procreation group (I-17)and in Sonnets 63-77.Behind them looms the Spenserian precedent in Complaints and possibly some encounter with the Italian and French poets who showed Spenser how to cross-pollinate Petrarchan forms with the matter of classical elegy. Such poems as Sonnets 65 and 74 display Shakespeare's skills in using Ovidian materials,but they also display his skills in appropriating continen- tal Petrarchism.In Romeo and Juliet,Mercutio jabs at 'the numbers that Petrarch flowed in'(2.3.35),and these numbers must have attracted the poet's attention.We've already noted one of Petrarch's most famous poems,Sonnet 248,as the model for Sidney's Sonnet 71,which dispenses with the Italian poet's memento mori warning and poetic boast. Shakespeare's Sonnets 65 and 74 echo this theme while reinstating Petrarch's admonition(65:How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea') and poetic challenge(74:My life hath in this line some interest').But these sonnets go beyond any simple debt to Petrarch.Ronsard,too,had used the 25
throughout Gascoigne’s novella The Adventures of Master FJ(1573, offering eight sonnets) and Nashe’s novella Unfortunate Traveller(1594, sustaining a fictionalized characterization of Henry Howard, earl of Surrey, two sonnets, and a ballad) more knowingly transmit their Petrarchism through witty, ironic, self-deprecating speakers overpowered by their passions to anguished, often hilarious defeat.25 The lesson of these poets was to canonize the form through self-conscious references to the continental Petrarchism upon which it was based. So what did Shakespeare do? Each had mined Petrarch and Ronsard, and Daniel, Lodge, and Swoothern had drawn from Desportes as well. Shakespeare largely avoided these models. But he might have gone to a younger, lesser known, often irreverent member of the French Ple´iade who had fashioned his own dark lady in a clever send-up of his elders’ Petrarchan sonneteering. Etienne Jodelle in his aptly and provocatively titled Contr’amours (published 1574), a mini-sequence of seven poems ripe enough for quick and greedy plucking, offered just such a palinodic representation of adulterous love gone awry, one capable of winning the approval of London’s savvy readership.26 Shakespeare’s analogous dark lady sonnets 127–52 appear to be his earliest efforts in the genre. But a parallel and more ambitious series seems to have followed closely upon it. The year 1591 marked the publication not only of Sidney’s and Daniel’s sequences, but also of Spenser’s Complaints, which, as we have seen, offered English readers a view of Petrarch and Du Bellay as poets with more than amatory interests, and as poets whose meditations on past, present, and future history drew as well upon classical texts from Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. Even Daniel had incorporated Horatian and Ovidian ‘eternizing’ motifs into his sonnets about Delia. And so would Shakespeare in his eternizing sonnets in the procreation group (1–17) and in Sonnets 63–77. Behind them looms the Spenserian precedent in Complaints and possibly some encounter with the Italian and French poets who showed Spenser how to cross-pollinate Petrarchan forms with the matter of classical elegy. Such poems as Sonnets 65 and 74 display Shakespeare’s skills in using Ovidian materials, but they also display his skills in appropriating continental Petrarchism. In Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio jabs at ‘the numbers that Petrarch flowed in’ (2.3.35), and these numbers must have attracted the poet’s attention. We’ve already noted one of Petrarch’s most famous poems, Sonnet 248, as the model for Sidney’s Sonnet 71, which dispenses with the Italian poet’s memento mori warning and poetic boast. Shakespeare’s Sonnets 65 and 74 echo this theme while reinstating Petrarch’s admonition (65: ‘How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea’) and poetic challenge (74: ‘My life hath in this line some interest’). But these sonnets go beyond any simple debt to Petrarch. Ronsard, too, had used the Shakespeare and the development of English poetry 25
WILLIAM J.KENNEDY Italian poem as a model for the first sonnet of Les amours,'Qui voudra voyr comme un Dieu me surmonte'. Praised by his compatriots as'the prince of poets'and 'the poet of princes', Ronsard attracted celebrity in England,if not widespread imitation there.7 Sidney,Spenser,Daniel,Watson,and Lodge all acknowledged him,and John Eliot's Ortho-epia Gallica(1593)commended him.What if Shakespeare, like his worldly,university-educated contemporaries,had dipped into Ronsard's poetry,not as a scholar hunting for sources,but as a gifted word- smith or as an ambitious and cosmopolitan author curious about literary production beyond the Channel?No convincing evidence exists that Shakespeare directly imitated an entire poem in any foreign tongue.But tantalizing hints suggest that Shakespeare conducts a dialogue with conti- nental authors and with English counterparts who professed to borrow from them.8 For example,Ronsard's Sonnets pour Helene,the last great sonnet sequence of his Oeuures,represents the poet's career-threatening rivalry with Desportes,whom Lodge admired enough to translate.Such contestation evokes Shakespeare's own rival-poet Sonnets 79-86,in whose aftermath the speaker retreats from his young man in a gesture ('Farewell,thou art too dear for my possessing',87)which resonates with Ronsard's'Adieu,cruelle,adieu, je te suis ennuyeux'(Helene 2.53).Elusive echoes,strategically placed,remind us that Greene's 'upstart Crow'might just have sought out more bounty in alien tongues than even his contemporaries credited him with. When at the turn of the century Shakespeare revisited his Sonnets,elite literary taste was changing.The Phoenix and Turtle'summons the state of poetry at this pivotal moment,and the Sonnets that Shakespeare likely wrote at this time address the situation.Sonnet IIo,'Alas'tis true,I have gone here and there',concurs with a sort of newly fashioned flaneur verse that positions the speaker as a witty observer of his own and others'misconduct.Sonnet I14 records his perceptions of fawning behaviour in high places,typifying the sycophancy and factionalism of James I's nascent court.Sonnets 124 and I25 contrast such 'policy'and 'outward honouring'with the speaker's avowal of his own constancy.These poems slyly undercut Jonson's famous proclamation to 'dwell as in my Centre,as I can',a boast made even as the latter's compass gravitated more and more toward the preferences of his patrons.9 Shakespeare's speaker proclaims his own compass a flawed one, but one grounded in an honest attachment:'If I have ranged,/Like him that travels I return again'(Sonnet Iog).One sign of its steadiness is his use of the sonnet form itself,varied yet unvarying,and endorsed by him even and especially when it had fallen out of favour. Viewed from this perspective,the final revised form of the first sixty Sonnets concurs with the aesthetic trajectory traced above.If Sonnets 26
Italian poem as a model for the first sonnet of Les amours, ‘Qui voudra voyr comme un Dieu me surmonte’. Praised by his compatriots as ‘the prince of poets’ and ‘the poet of princes’, Ronsard attracted celebrity in England, if not widespread imitation there.27 Sidney, Spenser, Daniel, Watson, and Lodge all acknowledged him, and John Eliot’s Ortho-epia Gallica (1593) commended him. What if Shakespeare, like his worldly, university-educated contemporaries, had dipped into Ronsard’s poetry, not as a scholar hunting for sources, but as a gifted wordsmith or as an ambitious and cosmopolitan author curious about literary production beyond the Channel? No convincing evidence exists that Shakespeare directly imitated an entire poem in any foreign tongue. But tantalizing hints suggest that Shakespeare conducts a dialogue with continental authors and with English counterparts who professed to borrow from them.28 For example, Ronsard’s Sonnets pour He´le`ne, the last great sonnet sequence of his Oeuvres, represents the poet’s career-threatening rivalry with Desportes, whom Lodge admired enough to translate. Such contestation evokes Shakespeare’s own rival-poet Sonnets 79–86, in whose aftermath the speaker retreats from his young man in a gesture (‘Farewell, thou art too dear for my possessing’, 87) which resonates with Ronsard’s ‘Adieu, cruelle, adieu, je te suis ennuyeux’ (He´le`ne 2.53). Elusive echoes, strategically placed, remind us that Greene’s ‘upstart Crow’ might just have sought out more bounty in alien tongues than even his contemporaries credited him with. When at the turn of the century Shakespeare revisited his Sonnets, elite literary taste was changing. ‘The Phoenix and Turtle’ summons the state of poetry at this pivotal moment, and the Sonnets that Shakespeare likely wrote at this time address the situation. Sonnet 110, ‘Alas ’tis true, I have gone here and there’, concurs with a sort of newly fashioned flaˆ neur verse that positions the speaker as a witty observer of his own and others’ misconduct. Sonnet 114 records his perceptions of fawning behaviour in high places, typifying the sycophancy and factionalism of James I’s nascent court. Sonnets 124 and 125 contrast such ‘policy’ and ‘outward honouring’ with the speaker’s avowal of his own constancy. These poems slyly undercut Jonson’s famous proclamation to ‘dwell as in my Centre, as I can’, a boast made even as the latter’s compass gravitated more and more toward the preferences of his patrons.29 Shakespeare’s speaker proclaims his own compass a flawed one, but one grounded in an honest attachment: ‘If I have ranged, / Like him that travels I return again’ (Sonnet 109). One sign of its steadiness is his use of the sonnet form itself, varied yet unvarying, and endorsed by him even and especially when it had fallen out of favour. Viewed from this perspective, the final revised form of the first sixty Sonnets concurs with the aesthetic trajectory traced above. If Sonnets WILLIAM J. KENNEDY 26