The sonnets of William Shakespeare.
He was not of an age, but for all time.
I was really intrigued a couple of months ago when I encountered The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and Finnegans Wake available on a “page a day” basis via an RSS feed. I tried to read them, but it turns out that I’m not really in the right frame of mind for it when I’m working, and a page a day really doesn’t provide enough context for me to enjoyably read a novel.
I thought it was a cool idea though, and I’ve been trying to think of something that I could enjoy in that format. The answer (an answer, anyway) struck me yesterday. Actually, Doug Bunting is really the responsible party, though I’m sure he didn’t know it at the time.
In a private reply to one instance of the “information resources” permathread on www-tag, Doug included a link to a web page and on that page I saw a reference to Shakespeare’s sonnets. That’s when it hit me, that’s the perfect kind of text for “page a day” reading.
When this page was written, it marked the beginning of a 154 one-a-day odyssey through Shakespeare’s sonnets. Now it just shows a random sonnet.
Sonnet Number 59
By William Shakespeare
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which labouring for invention bear amis
The second burthen of a former child!
O that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done.
That I might see what the old world could say,
To this composed wonder of your frame,
Whether we are mended, or whether better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O sure I am the wits of former days,
To subjects worse have given admiring praise.
The sonnet text comes from The Gutenberg Project and appears under the following copyright:
THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE COMPLETE WORKS OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE IS COPYRIGHT 1990-1993 BY WORLD LIBRARY, INC., AND IS PROVIDED BY PROJECT GUTENBERG ETEXT OF ILLINOIS BENEDICTINE COLLEGE WITH PERMISSION. ELECTRONIC AND MACHINE READABLE COPIES MAY BE DISTRIBUTED SO LONG AS SUCH COPIES (1) ARE FOR YOUR OR OTHERS PERSONAL USE ONLY, AND (2) ARE NOT DISTRIBUTED OR USED COMMERCIALLY. PROHIBITED COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION INCLUDES BY ANY SERVICE THAT CHARGES FOR DOWNLOAD TIME OR FOR MEMBERSHIP.
I believe that my use falls within those guidelines. Make sure yours does too.
Subscribe to the feed, if you want to play along.
That many of Shakespeare’s sonnets are about love and that this project should begin on 11 Sep is a complete coincidence, but a happy one, I think.
Comments:
Will the latest one always be number 1? With that many, it could become a pain to scroll down to the most recent?
Good catch, I've fixed the feed generator so that they come out in "most recent at the top" order.
I also added "today's sonnet" to this page.
The text of the sonnets are currently in reverse order from the numbers and links of the entries. That is, the entry numbered 8 now has the text of #1, and vice versa.
Thank you, Kevin. I knew something was wrong but I hadn't quite gotten my head around what. I believe it's fixed now.