"A Lover’s Complaint" is an example of the female-voiced complaint, which is frequently appended to sonnet sequences. Other examples include Samuel Daniel's "Complaint to Rosamund", which follows Daniel's Delia (1592), Thomas Lodge's "Complaint of Elstred", which follows Phillis (1593), Michael Drayton's "Matilda the Faire", which follows Ideas Mirrour (1594), and Richard Barnfield's "Cassandra", which follows The Affectionate Shepherd.[1]
The poem consists of forty-seven seven-line stanzas written in the form known as rhyme royal (rhyme scheme ABABBCC), a metre identical to that of Shakespeare's longer narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece.
The poem begins with a description of a young woman weeping at the edge of a river, into which she throws torn-up letters, rings, and other tokens of love. An old man nearby approaches the woman and asks the reason for her sorrow. She responds by telling him of a former lover who pursued, seduced, and finally abandoned her. She recounts in detail the speech her lover gave to her which seduced her. She concludes her story by conceding that she would fall for the young man's false charms again:
O, that infected moisture of his eye, O, that false fire which in his cheek so glowed, O, that forc'd thunder from his heart did fly, O, that sad breath his spungy lungs bestowed, O, all that borrowed motion seeming owed, Would yet again betray the fore-betray'd, And new pervert a reconciled maid![2]
Authorship
The first known illustration to "A Lover's Complaint", from John Bell's 1774 edition of Shakespeare's works
Few have questioned the authorship of the poem. Shakespeare's authorship was not questioned until the early 19th century, when Hazlitt expressed doubts. In 1917 Robertson suggested that the poem, and several plays, were written by Chapman. This idea was not widely accepted, and attributions based on general aesthetic impressions of a poem have since become less common among literary scholars.[3] "A Lover's Complaint" contains words and forms not found elsewhere in Shakespeare, including archaisms and Latinisms. Edmond Malone called the poem "beautiful", and suggested that Shakespeare may have been trying to compete with Edmund Spenser.[4] Critics have seen thematic parallels to situations in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure.[4] According to John Kerrigan in Motives of Woe, the poem may be regarded as an appropriate coda to the sonnets, with its narrative triangle of young woman, elderly man, and seductive suitor paralleling a similar triangle in the sonnets themselves.[5]Stanley Wells and Paul Edmondson note that:
It was not unusual for sonnets to be followed by longer poems. Late sixteenth-century readers developed a taste for them and would not have been surprised to find complaints at the end of sonnet collections. Samuel Daniel's Delia is followed by The Complaint of Rosamund (1592), Thomas Lodge's Phillis is followed by The Complaint of Elstred (1593), Richard Barnfield's Cassandra succeeds Cynthia, with Certain Sonnets (1595).[6]
One writer suggests that the author was an anonymous early Elizabethan poet.[7]
In 2007 Brian Vickers, suggested the poem was written by John Davies of Hereford, an author of theological pamphlets.[8] He details arguments for the non-Shakespearean nature of the poem and lists numerous verbal parallels between the "Complaint" and the known works of Davies: – such as 'What brest so cold that is not warmed heare' and 'What heart's so cold that is not set on fire'. On this evidence it was omitted from the 2007 RSCComplete Works. MacDonald P. Jackson, in his review of Vickers' book in the Review of English Studies, calls this omission a "mistake" and states that Vickers' evidence is "very meagre." Jackson adds:
Had Vickers keyed in "spongy", "outwardly", and "physic"—trying the various possible original spellings and selecting instances of "physic" as a verb—he would have found that in the whole of LION ["literature online" database], covering more than six centuries of English poetry, drama, and prose, four separate works contain all three words: Troilus and Cressida, Macbeth, Cymbeline, and "A Lover's Complaint".
Vickers was led to Davies by the number of words from the "Complaint" he found during a computer search of the invaluable LION archive; but any such investigation is bound to favour such a voluminous author against the less prolific or minimally preserved. In similar work on Restoration poets, I continually found parallels with the verse of Ned Ward for works that it was chronologically impossible for him to have written. The reasons were that, like Davies, he wrote a vast amount of verse and that his style had a chameleonlike quality that brought it close to the poetic mean of the time.
References
^Roche, Thomas P. Petrarch and the English Sonnet Sequences. AMS Press. New York 1989. ISBN978-0404622886. p. 343
lover, complaint, narrative, poem, written, william, shakespeare, published, part, 1609, quarto, shakespeare, sonnets, published, thomas, thorpe, first, page, from, shakespeare, sonnets, 1609, lover, complaint, example, female, voiced, complaint, which, freque. A Lover s Complaint is a narrative poem written by William Shakespeare and published as part of the 1609 quarto of Shakespeare s Sonnets It was published by Thomas Thorpe The first page of A Lover s Complaint from Shakespeare s Sonnets 1609 A Lover s Complaint is an example of the female voiced complaint which is frequently appended to sonnet sequences Other examples include Samuel Daniel s Complaint to Rosamund which follows Daniel s Delia 1592 Thomas Lodge s Complaint of Elstred which follows Phillis 1593 Michael Drayton s Matilda the Faire which follows Ideas Mirrour 1594 and Richard Barnfield s Cassandra which follows The Affectionate Shepherd 1 Contents 1 Form and content 2 Authorship 2 1 Alternative views 3 References 4 External linksForm and content EditThe poem consists of forty seven seven line stanzas written in the form known as rhyme royal rhyme scheme ABABBCC a metre identical to that of Shakespeare s longer narrative poem The Rape of Lucrece The poem begins with a description of a young woman weeping at the edge of a river into which she throws torn up letters rings and other tokens of love An old man nearby approaches the woman and asks the reason for her sorrow She responds by telling him of a former lover who pursued seduced and finally abandoned her She recounts in detail the speech her lover gave to her which seduced her She concludes her story by conceding that she would fall for the young man s false charms again O that infected moisture of his eye O that false fire which in his cheek so glowed O that forc d thunder from his heart did fly O that sad breath his spungy lungs bestowed O all that borrowed motion seeming owed Would yet again betray the fore betray d And new pervert a reconciled maid 2 Authorship Edit The first known illustration to A Lover s Complaint from John Bell s 1774 edition of Shakespeare s works Few have questioned the authorship of the poem Shakespeare s authorship was not questioned until the early 19th century when Hazlitt expressed doubts In 1917 Robertson suggested that the poem and several plays were written by Chapman This idea was not widely accepted and attributions based on general aesthetic impressions of a poem have since become less common among literary scholars 3 A Lover s Complaint contains words and forms not found elsewhere in Shakespeare including archaisms and Latinisms Edmond Malone called the poem beautiful and suggested that Shakespeare may have been trying to compete with Edmund Spenser 4 Critics have seen thematic parallels to situations in Shakespeare s All s Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure 4 According to John Kerrigan in Motives of Woe the poem may be regarded as an appropriate coda to the sonnets with its narrative triangle of young woman elderly man and seductive suitor paralleling a similar triangle in the sonnets themselves 5 Stanley Wells and Paul Edmondson note that It was not unusual for sonnets to be followed by longer poems Late sixteenth century readers developed a taste for them and would not have been surprised to find complaints at the end of sonnet collections Samuel Daniel s Delia is followed by The Complaint of Rosamund 1592 Thomas Lodge s Phillis is followed by The Complaint of Elstred 1593 Richard Barnfield s Cassandra succeeds Cynthia with Certain Sonnets 1595 6 Shakespeare is widely accepted as the poems author This is supported by studies written by Kenneth Muir Eliot Slater and MacDonald P Jackson 4 Alternative views Edit One writer suggests that the author was an anonymous early Elizabethan poet 7 In 2007 Brian Vickers suggested the poem was written by John Davies of Hereford an author of theological pamphlets 8 He details arguments for the non Shakespearean nature of the poem and lists numerous verbal parallels between the Complaint and the known works of Davies such as What brest so cold that is not warmed heare and What heart s so cold that is not set on fire On this evidence it was omitted from the 2007 RSC Complete Works MacDonald P Jackson in his review of Vickers book in the Review of English Studies calls this omission a mistake and states that Vickers evidence is very meagre Jackson adds Had Vickers keyed in spongy outwardly and physic trying the various possible original spellings and selecting instances of physic as a verb he would have found that in the whole of LION literature online database covering more than six centuries of English poetry drama and prose four separate works contain all three words Troilus and Cressida Macbeth Cymbeline and A Lover s Complaint Harold Love in his The Times Literary Supplement review has similar questions regarding Vickers suggestion Vickers was led to Davies by the number of words from the Complaint he found during a computer search of the invaluable LION archive but any such investigation is bound to favour such a voluminous author against the less prolific or minimally preserved In similar work on Restoration poets I continually found parallels with the verse of Ned Ward for works that it was chronologically impossible for him to have written The reasons were that like Davies he wrote a vast amount of verse and that his style had a chameleonlike quality that brought it close to the poetic mean of the time References Edit Roche Thomas P Petrarch and the English Sonnet Sequences AMS Press New York 1989 ISBN 978 0404622886 p 343 Evans G Blakemore ed Riverside Shakespeare 2nd edition Houghton Mifflin 1997 p 1880 Sharon Zisser Shirley amp Whitworth Stephen Generating Dialogue on Shakespeare s Lover s Complaint Sharon Zisser Shirley editor Critical Essays on Shakespeare s A Lover s Complaint Suffering Ecstasy Sharon Zisser Whitworth Stephen Generating Dialogue on Shakespeare s Lover s Complaint Routledge 2017 ISBN 9781351947350 pp 1 4 a b c Shirley Sharon Zisser amp Whitworth Stephen Generating Dialogue in Shakespeare s A Lover s Complaint Critical Essays on Shakespeare s A Lover s Complaint Suffering Ecstasy Ashgate Publishing 2006 pp 1 55 John Kerrigan Motives of Woe Shakespeare and Female Complaint 1991 Edmondson P amp Wells S Shakespeare s Sonnets Oxford University Press Oxford 2004 p 108 Marina Tarlinskajam Who Did NOT Write A Lover s Complaint Shakespeare Yearbook 15 2005 Vickers John Shakespeare A Lover s Complaint and John Davies of Hereford Cambridge University Press 2007 External links EditA Lover s Complaint at Project Gutenberg A Lover s Complaint 1609 Full text Annotated text Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title A Lover 27s Complaint amp oldid 1110635364, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
