During his research at the Bodleian Library, British Professor Leah Veronese of the University of Oxford came across a remarkable poem in a 17th -century text collection. Although the first strings seemed ordinary, the advancing lines pointed to a famous work. Veronese discovered a version of Sonnet 116, one of Shakespeare’s best -known sonas, previously undocumented manuscript.
This manuscript is recorded as a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 and the second handwriting that academics know. Veronese made this discovery in a collection of various texts compiled by Oxford’s founder and pro-royal Elias Ashmole (1617-1692), the founder of the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology. Detailed review and research results were published in English Studies Review on February 3. This adaptation of Sonnet sheds a new sheds on the political and cultural atmosphere of the 17th century England.
Shakespeare’s overlooking adaptation
When Veronese came across this text, he realized that Sonnet 116 had read a familiar but different version. However, Shakespeare had no reference to Shakespeare in the catalog statement of the manuscript. In the 19th century, this manuscript, which was catalogized by William Henry Black, was probably overlooked because his first strings were different. For example:
New discovered version:
Self -blind error seizes all these minds
Who calls this love with fake appeals
It changes which change it finds
Original Shakespeare Version:
Let me allow the marriage of real minds
Do not accept obstacles; Love is not love
What changes when the change is found
These small but important differences may have left the fact that the text belongs to Shakespeare for centuries.
The discovered version is a manuscript adapted to music by 17th century British composer Henry Lawes. Unlike the original, it has additional lines and a different end. According to research, these additional lines may be added to extend the adaptation as a song. However, Veronese argues that these differences may be made not only for artistic, but also for political reasons.
Between 1642-1651, England was shaken by the civil wars between King Charles I and Parliament. As a result of the war, the king was executed and England was ruled by the Republican regime for 11 years. During this period, Christmas celebrations and public songs were banned. The collection compiled by Ashmole contains banned songs and royalist poems. According to Veronese, this musical adaptation of Sonnet 116 can be read as a political love song written to glorify the royalist loyalty.
Discovery adds a new dimension to Shakespeare work
Professor of Shakespeare at the University of Oxford, Professor of Studies, draws attention to the importance of this discovery and says that there may be unknown Shakespeare texts in the archives. Today, Sonnet 116 is considered to be not so popular in its own time, although Sonnet 116 is considered one of Shakespeare’s most famous poems. This new discovery is an important source to understand the change of Shakespeare’s works over time and how it adapted to the political atmosphere of the period.
