Sonnet 33 by William Shakespeare I believe is his most important sonnet as it unveils to us in line ‘IX’ the Godly words “my Sunne one” this message more than any other is what he wants the world to know about his life – that he is the proud father of the heavenly Henry VVriothesley.
A good number of Shakespeare’s sonnets are influenced by the sonnet number, none more so than (S.33) a number that signifies divine presence and favour, while reminding us Christ died at age 33. The sonnet can almost be seen as a hymn, as in no uncertain terms it sings the praises of the ‘faire-youth’ Henry VVriothesley, his divine presence glorified by the following loquacious and “celestial” language, in which he has a “Golden face” and “Sovereign eye” while “Gilding pale streams with Heavenly alchemy”.
3 squared, or 3 x 3 = 9.
‘Nine’ is an allusion to Jesus Christ. In Roman numerals ‘IX’ are his initials in Greek (iota & chi) = Ιησούς Χριστός, while it is no coincidence in line ‘IX’ of the sonnet we find a pun on the word ‘Sunne’ meaning: “my Son one”.
‘One’ is the most important word in our great author’s vocabulary as it alludes to his son Henry VVriothesley.
Our author was familiar with the Hebrew language which he had been taught as a child between the ages of five and fourteen by the eminent scholar ‘Sir Thomas Smith’. Shakespeare’s famous poem “The Phoenix and the Turtle” first appearing in a publication called “Love’s Martyr” was written by him using the witty pseudonym ‘Ro.Chester’ for ROCHESTER a town on the river Medway in Kent that he was notoriously associated with following the ‘Gads Hill’ incident. This fact is elaborated upon in my work “With the Breath thou Giv’st and Tak’st” which analyses his famous metaphysical poem “The Phoenix and the Turtle”, Interestingly, as tradition would have it Shakespeare’s avian-poem is preceded by his “INVOCATIO” where we find in the seventh line the first use of the schwa /e/ in English text (the most common sound in our language). This upside down ’ə’ has come down to us from the Hebrew language and we find its first use in the year 1601 in the word “vərt” which is of course an allusion to our author’s inherited Norman name “Ver” and how the name ‘Vere’ was originally pronounced – as in the name ‘Edward de Vere 17th Earl of Oxford’.
The Hebrew word for God is ‘One’.
The Lord will be king over all the land, In that day the Lord will be one and his name is ‘One’.(Zechariah 14:9)
Plainly our author sees allusion between his own royal family and the Holy Trinity – and why I like to refer to ‘Elizabeth/Oxford/VVriothesley’ using the construction “The Tudor Trinity”. The message of (Sonnet 33) in particular the first quatrain is to illustrate to the world just how ‘Godly’ Henry VVriothesley was – before more maturely in (S.20) a physiological portrait of him – we find his bright eye:
“Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth”.
While again in the fourth line of (Sonnet 33) we find our young prince:
“Gilding pale streams with Heavenly alchemy”.
Our contemporary world has a new phenomenon which I call ‘Sacred 3′ and although he didn’t refer to it thus, this system of validation was first understood by ‘Alexander Waugh’ in respect of his brilliant deciphering of ‘Shakespeare’s Sonnet’s dedication’ first published in 2017 where he emphasised this important point, that to endorse his meaning our great author in validation would repeat himself three times – a system we find repeated in his great metaphysical masterpiece.
In (S.33) we find ‘Sacred 3’ represented by the words “Sunne, Suns & Sun” words all capitalised in the ‘quarto’, while to our author the words “my Sunne one” simply meant ‘my Godly son’ because he firmly believed all princes divinely ordained in heaven (he was of course a prince himself) although alas – an illegitimate prince (born out of wedlock- as was VVriothesley) and why we find in the last line of the sonnet these princes stained by bastardy:
“Suns of the world may stain, when heavens Sun staineth”.
The first word “Suns” is plural, yet we live in a solar system with only one sun!
In Line (7) highly unusual for Shakespeare regarding this particular word, we find ‘for-lorne’ hyphenated – the reason gematrical as F = 6 & O = 14 a number which happens to be our author’s TRUE date-of-creation ’14’ July 1548 (the actual day he was born) numbers which added together 6 + 14 = 20 and represent ‘Henry Wriothesley’s TRUE date-of-creation ’20’ May 1574, while R = 17 representing our author’s Earldom – 17th Earl of Oxford. While we find the world “for-lorne” because although Wriothesley’s father believes he should be feted to the world (because of his illegitimacy) the opposite becomes the reality, as he is scurried away and secluded a “disgrace” with the ancient meaning of the word ‘lorne’ to lose, consequently representing his father’s fears – that his son is lost to the world – his “visage” by authority of the Queen – hidden away.
Looking more closely at the last line of the sonnet we find a ‘tilde’ over the ‘e’ in the word when, because it represents an ‘omission’ and as there is a shortage of space it makes sense, but what also might be significant is the literal meaning of the word ‘tilde’ this being ‘title’. The beginning of the line is plural – but it ends in the singular. The first half of the last line therefore relates to the stain of bastardy on these two princes, while the second half specifically relates to VVriothesley whose ‘title’ (is not recognised) having been ‘omitted’ while our author knows full-well “my Son one” (my Godly son) is royal on both sides of his family, although a fact our author was less proud of – was the fact his son was incestuously begotten.
Now; let me give you some further examples of “Sacred 3”, while I remind you of Henry VVriothesley’s motto:
“One for all, all for one”.
Because of this – we know line 12 of (S.8) relates specifically to VVriothesley – where the words “all in one” are found.
(11) Resembling sire and child and happy mother
(12) Who all in one, one pleasing note do sing,
(13) whose speechless song, being many, seeming one,
(14) Sings this to thee: ‘Thou single wilt prove none.’ (S.8)
The “sire” in the first line here is our great author, the “child” VVriothesley and the “happy mother” Elizabeth – the word ‘Happy’ denotes royalty. There also appears to be some greater significance in the occasions where we find “Sacred 3” grouped together in the last three lines. This happens in both of Edward de Vere’s poems “The first” & “The burning” which in “Love’s Martyr” immediately precede his poem “The Phoenix and the Turtle” because the words “rare” and “rarity” are also allusions to VVriothesley.
“Sacred 3” is found to be fragrant in (S.54) represented by the word “rose” a marsupial of the word VVriothesley, as the word “Hews” (S.20) is a marsupial of his full name Henry Wriothesley.
‘Sonnet 105’ is particularly educational – as it alludes to the “Threnos” of “The Phoenix and the Turtle”, as metrically this final segment of the poem is composed of precisely 105 heart-beats.
“Sacred 3” appears twice in (S.105) the second occasion in the last three lines:
(1) Let not my love be called idolatry,
(2) Nor my belovèd as an idol show,
(3) Since all alike my songs and praises be
(4) To one, of one, still such and ever so.
(5) Kind is my love today, tomorrow kind,
(6) Still constant in a wondrous excellence.
(7) Therefore my verse to constancy confined,
(8) one thing expressing, leaves out difference.
(9) Faire, Kind and True’ is all my argument,
(10) ‘Faire, Kind and True’ varying to other words,
(11) And in this change is my invention spent,
(12) Three themes in one, which wondrous scope affords,
(13) ‘Faire, Kind and True’ have often lived alone,
(14) Which three ‘till now never kept seat in one.
The words “one of one” in the fourth line are a reference to VVriothesley’s motto (One for all – all for one) while line 10 alludes to line 53 of “The Phoenix and the Turtle” as they ‘vary to other words’. Therefore,“Beauty Truth and Rarity” and “Faire, kind and true” are allusions to individuals – and fundamentally the same thing, although not in a corresponding order, which in this particular instance is represented by the following:
Faire, kind and true = Beauty, rarity and truth (Elizabeth, VVriothesley, Oxford).
This is a little confusing because to make sure (S.105) made sense our author switched the name Faire (normally associated with the Faire youth) so it alluded to Elizabeth instead of VVriothesley. You will notice he says: “in this change” I believe this was partly to give the impression that our author’s love was equitable between the two of them, although personally I am not entirely convinced of this. Nevertheless some literature is so profound one cannot escape from it – for I defy all of you to misinterpret the last line of (S.105).
“Which three till now never kept seat in one”.
Our authors “invention” (his hybrid language of allusion) relates to ‘The Tudor Trinity’ of which he is one third – which makes sense of “three themes in one” while the “wondrous scope” afforded them – was the possibility of sharing the throne together, as at that point in history – as a Royal family they had never “kept seat” in ‘One’ (as one Godly entity).
Now; although I most certainly don’t need to justify the meaning of the word seat to you – I will do it anyway:
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself. (Richard II)
The supreme seat, the throne Majestical. (Richard III)
And generally to the crown and seat of France. (Henry V)
Methought I sat in seat of Majesty. (Henry VI)
The rightful heir to England’s royal seat. (Henry VI).
‘Royal Progress’
Part of the reason for Elizabeth’s great success as a monarch was that she was very savvy in keeping in touch with her subjects, and during the summertime (partly as a cost cutting exercise) she made sure she went on her annual progress, which in the year Henry VVriothesley was ‘first created’ 1574 – took her first to Bristol – then on to Bath.
The buntings were out in Bath on the 21st August – the day she arrived there with the three month old illegitimate infant VVriothesley in tow – the reason she is described as:
“Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace”. (S.33)
The excessive pride our author felt for his son is illuminated at the beginning of the third quatrain which I imagine must relate to a specific event:
“Even so my Son one early morn did shine With all-triumphant splendour on my brow”.
This pride was quickly followed by melancholy – in lines where we find the word “region” very close to the word ‘regent’.
“But out alack, he was but one hour mine. The region cloud hath masked him from me now”.
A Little History
This sonnet relates to a specific time frame following a terrible conflagration of words between ‘our lovers’ the Queen and the Earl of Oxford in respect of the infant VVriothesley’s future, in which he used language no man should use before a woman – let alone a Queen. This event took place at the palace of Greenwich from where he fled in fear for his life – not looking back until he reached Flanders.
Mercifully the Queen was anxious to patch up the quarrel and sent one of Oxford’s literary cronies ‘Thomas Bedingfield’ to bring him home without any punitive action being taken. It was a long return ride for Oxford who eventually arrived in Bath “a sad distempered guest” the same day as his mistress – the 21st August 1574 – when “The little love God” was precisely three months old:
I sick withal, the help of Bath desired,
And thither hied, a sad distempered guest,
But found no cure; the Bath for my help lies,
Where Cupid got new fire – my mistress’ eyes.
(S.153)
Philip Cooper Fecit: © 4th December 2020.