[Ann Drysdale]

In the spirit of this resurrection of former times (Hello, Eric!) I recall that Dana Gioia slapped my wrist once in a little bistro in Cornwall. He was telling me about the wines of the Napa Valley and I had reached for my glass too soon, before the contents had had time to breathe, stretch and begin to sing.

It was the gentlest of remonstrances, accompanied by a Californian smile that simultaneously kissed it better, but I have never forgotten that first rule of red.

[Mark McDonnell]

That's a beautiful story Ann. I was once told to 'fuck off' by Mark E Smith.

Sorry, what thread is this?

[Jan D. Hodge]

I'm curious about why the final line of #130 is so often misread (and therefore presumably misunderstood), as it is here and was in the finals of the national Poetry Out Loud last year.

The line reads: "Than any she [pause] belied by false compare"
[i.e., than any woman who is belied (lied about) by using false (stale) comparisons]

and not "Than any [pause] she belied [pause] by false compare"
[which presumably would mean that "she" (i.e. his mistress, being the only available antecedent?) told lies about].

Shakespeare is here making gentle fun of the tropes used by "traditional" sonneteers, as a way of praising his mistress's beauty (i.e., I swear that she is more beautiful than all those who are praised by false, conventional tropes).

[john savoie]

You're right, Jan.
The construction is archaic,
and without knowing what it meant then,
people try too hard to make modern sense.

[R. S. Gwynn]

"Than any she belied with false compare."

The modern tendency is, readers being unfamiliar with "belied" and "compare" as a noun, is to think it's "Than any [that] she belied with false compare." We are also unfamiliar with the use of "she" here.

[Mark McDonnell]

Since this thread is current again after nine months away, I'll come back with something sensible to add alongside my silly response to Ann. I just watched these (about the first 10 at least) for the first time. Very nice. I love Maddy's hip-hop rendition! There are a lot of Sonnet 18 aren't there? I imagine they were allowed to choose and many stuck with the familiar. But it's all lovely to see and very heartening. Belated thanks for posting Sam.