123. Shakespeare lesen und gesund bleiben

The Sonnets of Shakespeare have a place beside the play of Hamlet in contention for the doubtful honor of being the cause of more perplexity and controversy than any other literary work in the English tongue. More persons, otherwise seemingly normal members of society, have thought that they were the first to understand one or the other of these works, or have professed to make illuminating discoveries regarding them, than could be computed as critics of any writing since the Iliad. If the present editor can come to the end of his task with any feeling of complacency, it is because he has spent some years with the Sonnets and still finds himself without a revelation. In other words, his complacency must be due only to the existence of some evidence that he is still sane — a poor substitute, no doubt, for the enthusiasm of the seer.

Introduction. „THE SONNETS“  OF SHAKESPEARE. From the Quarto of 1609 with variorum readings and commentary. EDITED BY Raymond Macdonald Alden. BOSTON & NEW YORK Houghton Mifflin Company 1916 (Download)