I have chosen to replicate the 1609 quarto edition of Shake-speares Sonnets and to transcribe the text with a minimal critical apparatus, so giving due weight to the printed copy without editorial impact. The univocal direction of modern spelling, which prioritizes one meaning over others, faces difficulty when confronted by fluid early modern spelling. The complexity, for example, of Sonnet 3’s “vn-eard wombe,” where “vn-eard” can and is intended to be heard as ‘uneared’ (unfecundated), ‘uneared’ (untilled), ‘unaired’ and ‘unheired’ is best carried by the quarto’s irregular spelling.
In later years continuing to work on Shakespeare’s sonnets would not have been possible without the database “Early English Books Online” (EEBO). The greater majority of early modern texts consulted here have been found at EEBO. I have not listed the database for every entry either in the Bibliography or in footnotes, but acknowledge my general debt to the site here and at the head of the Bibliography. It has been an essential tool and a modern marvel. Likewise I am indebted to the database, “The Latin Library,” for nearly all Latin quotations.
All translations from Latin, Greek and Italian sources, unless otherwise noted, are mine.
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