Sunday, August 07, 2011

'Worse Than a Puzzle-Peg'

"These sonnets, beginning at 127, to his Mistress, are worse than a puzzle-peg. They are abominably harsh, obscure & worthless. The others are for the most part much better, have many fine lines, very fine lines & passages. They are also in many places warm with passion. Their chief faults, and heavy ones they are, are sameness, tediousness, quaintness, & elaborate obscurity."
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH on Shakespeare's Sonnets (unverified)

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