[Julie Steiner]

Never mind about the substitution suggestion. The original doesn't have any substitutions at all in the hexameter lines—and only three in the pentameter lines:

- u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - -
Πρόκριτός | ἐστι, Φίλ|ιννα, τε|ὴ ῥυτὶς | ἢ ὀπὸς | ἥβης
     - - | - - - || - u u | - u u -
     πάσης· | ἱμείρω δ᾽ || ἀμφὶς ἔ|χειν παλάμαις
- u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - -
μᾶλλον ἐ|γὼ σέο | μῆλα καρ|ηβαρέ|οντα κορ|ύμβοις
     - - | - u u - || - u u | - u u -
     ἢ μα|ζὸν νεαρῆς || ὄρθιον | ἡλικίης.
- u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - u u | - -
σὸν γὰρ ἔ|τι φθινόπ|ωρον ὑπ|έρτερον | εἴαρος | ἄλλης,
     - u u | - u u - || - u u | - u u -
     χεῖμα σὸν | ἀλλοτρίου ||θερμότερον θέρεος.

Some people—mostly women—don't like the unflattering depictions in Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine" (which was about a man, not a woman, BTW, in the original context), John Frederick Nims's "Love Poem," and even Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.

But some people are humorless narcissists, insecure about their flaws and paranoid about putdowns.

[Carl Copeland]

Originally Posted by Julie Steiner

Some people—mostly women—don't like the unflattering depictions in ... Shakespeare's Sonnet 130.

But some people are humorless narcissists, insecure about their flaws and paranoid about putdowns.

Thanks, Julie. I’ve never forgotten a stage performance of that sonnet by a married couple I knew. He read, while she grimaced and glowed accordingly. My own narcissism, insecurity and paranoia about putdowns is treatable with doses of self-deprecating humor.