Quote #1

a purely literal interpretation of the impassioned protestations of affection for a 'lovely boy', which course through the sonnets, casts a slur on the dignity of the poet's name which scarcely bears discussion

More from Sir Sidney Lee

  1. I believe that the luxuriance of Shakespeare's dramatic instinct largely dominates that outburst of lyric melody which gives the Sonnets th…
  2. Discriminating brevity is a law of the right biographic method.
  3. Reading is a wrestling with ideas greater than any we can create for ourselves. It has been said, a little extravagantly, that reading can …
  4. He had a splendid appetite at all times, and never toyed with his food
  5. Shakespeare's relations with men and women of the court involved him at the outset in emotional conflicts, which form the subject-matter of…
  6. Shakespeare avows, although in phraseology that is often cryptic, the experiences of his own heart

All Sir Sidney Lee quotes