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122

MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES

flowers
uponthe ground. Of the blood' comesthe rose,5and of
It will be observedthatbothHeres
the tearsthe wind-flower."
weepovera dead loverand thatthetearsshed6 in
and Aphrodite
each case are changedinto flowers.
Jr. University.
Leland Stainford

OLIVER M. JOHNSTON.

RoseIN SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS

Readers of Shakespeare's Sonnets have noted that the word

"rose" appearsfrequently,
and withsomeapparentsymbolism,
in
the groupaddressedto a youngman. In the firstsonnetof the
series" rose" is italicized:-

That therebybeauty'sRose mightneverdie.

Sonnet109 concludes:
For nothingthis wide UniverseI call,
Save thoumyRose, in it thou art myall.

That Shakespeareshould have characterized

his friendonly
tritely
and sentimentally
is incredible;
the" rose" is notan epithet
in a seriesof impassioned
thoughtlessly
employed
sonnets,but a
wordof somehiddenmeaning.
In Mr. Alden'sVarioruim
to
of the Sonnets,he calls attention
the factthat "rose" is used twelvetimes,and he citesvarious
inconclusive
suggestions
aboutthesymbolism
of theword. Since
manyguesseshave beenmade,one moremaynot be whQlly
preposterous.Let us assumethatthe firstseriesof sonnetswas addressedto HenryWriothesley,
Earl of Southampton.How would
ElizabethanShakespearehave pronouncedWriothesley?What
wouldRoths-ley
becomeon thelips of a manwhodislikedharsh,
throaty
sounds,-amanwhoenjoyedplaysuponwords,symbolisms,
and figurative
epithets?Wouldit not,perhaps,
havebeensoftened,
to Rose-ly? Anyone whoexperiments
in
by constantrepetition,
pronouncing
thenamewillfindsomeevidenceto helpsupportthis
of" rose."
derivation
WellesleyCollege.

MARTHA HALE SHACKFORD.

I See B6dier, Les L6gendes )piques, iv, 416: A propos des fleursvermeilles ndes du sang de Vivien:
Encore le voientIi palerin assis
Qui a Saint Gile ont lor cheminstornez.
(La ChevalerieVivrien,
editedby A. Terracher,1. 1789.)
"The blood of Adonis producedthe anemone,accordingto Ovid, Met.
10, 735.
at the death of their brotherPhaethon
"The Heliades were so afflicted
that they were changed into poplars and their tears into amber. (Ovid,
Met.,2, 340; Hygin.,fab., 154.)