The Dedication to William Shake-speare’s Sonnets (1609)

1. The Dedication to William Shake-speare’s Sonnets (1609) Version 4 5 April 2009

2. What is the meaning of the strange dedication to Shakespeare’s Sonnets?

3. In the following slides, we put the text in a 15-column table… Why 15 Columns? It’s not clear, however.. 1. All commentators agree on the significance of Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book XV (15) as the poetic and philosophical progenitor of the Sonnets themselves. 2. Sonnet – II5 begins… “Those lines that I before have writ do lie,…”

4. …HENRY… Sir Henry Neville is imprisoned in the Tower of London for his part in the Essex rebellion to overthrow Elizabeth I. Stripped of his title, execution is a strong possibility for Mr Sir Henry Neville.

5. IN SETTING FORTH …HENRY…

6. In the fourth type-setting (the 4th line) …HENRY…

7. …HENRY…

8. L …HENRY…

9. L is a Roman numeral L = 50 Count 50 letters …HENRY…

10. NEV Is there any evidence that supports this as being significant? …HENRY NEV… 15 15 15 5

11. NEV - NEV The repetition of NEV and the intersection to form another “L” (a “NEV-L”) confirms this direction. …HENRY NEV…

12. NEV - NEV Is an arrowhead to…“I” …HENRY NEV…

13. Confirmation of this “I” is given by its placement in row 10, column 4, or co-ordinates (10,4). Sonnet I04 – To me, faire friend, you never can be olde, For as you were when first your eye I ey’d, Such seemes your beautie still: Three Winters Colde Have from the forrests shooke three Summer’s pride, Three beautious springs to yellow Autumne turn’d In processe of the seasons have I seene, Three Aprill perfumes... Moreover, we know to take “eye I ey’d” as a pun on the letter i, since iii = three in Roman numerals, and the word “three” is repeat- edly emphasised in the lines that follow. …HENRY NEVI…

14. TT …HENRY NEVI…

15. TT is significant because these are the initials at the end of the dedication. We propose that TT means Twenty Two. Can this be confirmed? …HENRY NEVI…

16. TT has long been seen as a misprint at the start of Sonnet 122. Interestingly, this “error” is immediately followed by another “error” of repetition, in the two commas. Sonnet 122 is written I22 – just as we have NEV ITT in our decryption. Moreover, the word “to” (a poetic echo of the number “2” in I22) occurs more times in this Sonnet than in any other (9x). …HENRY NEVI… (TT) Sonnet “I22.”

17. We propose that “tables” refers to the settings of the Dedication. These tables remain “above”, i.e. they come before “that idle rancke”, being the lines of the Sonnets themselves in the same sense that “rancke” is used in Sonnet 32. …HENRY NEVI… (TT) Sonnet “I22.”

18. TT = pi = 22/7 TT are the initials of the number Twenty Two. Count twenty two letters. Note. This ITT direction is strongly reinforced in the decryption of the preface to Troylus and Cresseida also published in 1609. …HENRY NEVI…

19. …HENRY NEVILLE… 6 15 1

20. The two clues are L and Pi. • L is Latin • Pi is Greek • We suggest this the true • meaning of Ben Jonson’s • famously odd (or ironic) • line in the First Folio... • “...And though thou hadst small Latine , • and lesse Greeke, • From thence to honour thee ,I would not • seeke • For names; but call forth...” • To the Memory of My Beloved the • Author, Mr. William Shakespeare (1623) • Click to continue… …HENRY NEVILLE…

21. AND THAT ETERNITIE is the fourth type-setting of the plaintext (i.e. 4th line). Here, TERNIT is placed centrally across HENRY. “Turn it?” …HENRY NEVILLE…

22. Turn what? …HENRY NEVILLE…

23. Turn IT …HENRY NEVILLE…

24. …HENRY NEVILLE…

25. …SIR HENRY NEVILLE…

26. …SIR HENRY NEVILLE YOUR …

27. …SIR HENRY NEVILLE YOUR POET…

28. Mr SIR HENRY NEVILLE (HE IS) YOUR POET

29. Mr SIR HENRY NEVILLE (HE IS) YOUR POET Decrypted fragments and summary of criteria for acceptance 15-column layout Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book XV Sonnet – II5, line 1: “Those lines that I before have writ do lie,…” IN SETTING FORTH Significant as the final clause in the Dedication. Pun on “fourth setting” L Directed from IN SETTING FORTH. Confirmed by intersection with horizontal NEV to form L-shaped NEV-L. L = 50 in Roman numerals. Matches Roman style typography. TT Significant as the initials of the ‘author’. Position left of “I”. TT = Pi = 22/7. Initials Twenty Two. First of two repetitions in Sonnet I22, line 1: “TThy Guift,,…” TERNIT Pun on “Turn IT”. Central placement. Effect of decrypting SIR, YOUR and POET. Mr. Position above SIR. Like SIR, it is a title. Accords with biography of imprisoned Neville. SIR Decrypted by TERNIT transformation. HENRY Decrypted by 15-column layout NEV Direction from SETTING FORTH. Direction from L = 50. Vertical NEV generated wholly by 15- column layout. Confirmed by intersection with horizontal NEV to form L-shaped NEV-L (see L above). I Arrowhead. Confirmed by co-ordinates (10,4) - Sonnet 104, line 2 “…eye I eyed…”. Sequence post “NEV”. LLE Sequence post “I”. Decrypted from TT direction (see TT above). HE IS Intersection. Grammatically required. YOUR Decrypted by TERNIT transformation. POET Position below and tight coupling with YOUR. © 2008 leylandandgoding.com