See the Introduction to this presentation of early poems by Edward de Vere. Click here to go to the previous poem in the series or back to Poem No. 1. All the poems, and a printable pdf version of the entire presentation, may also be accessed from the Introduction. See also Note on Sources, Titles, and Presentation of Parallels, Key to Abbreviations, and Bibliography of Works Cited.
Poem No. 20: “Cupid’s Bow”
(renumbered as “E.O. 21” in Professor Stritmatter’s published study)
1 In peascod time when hound to horn gives ear while buck is killed,
2 And little boys with pipes of corn sit keeping beasts in field,
3 I went to gather strawberries tho’ when woods and groves were fair,
4 And parched my face with Phoebus, lo, by walking in the air.
5 I lay me down all by a stream and banks all overhead,
6 And there I found the strangest dream, that ever young man had.
7 Methought I saw each Christmas game, both revels all and some,
8 And each thing else that man could name or might by fancy come,
9 The substance of the thing I saw, in silence pass it shall,
10 Because I lack the skill to draw, the order of them all.
11 But Venus shall not ’scape my pen, whose maidens in disdain
12 Sit feeding on the hearts of men, whom Cupid’s bow hath slain.
13 And that blind Boy sat all in blood, bebathed to the ears,
14 And like a conqueror he stood, and scorned lovers’ tears.
15 “I have more hearts,” quoth he, “at call, than Caesar could command.
16 “And like the deer I make them fall, that overcross the land.
17 “I do increase their wand’ring wits, till that I dim their sight.
18 ” ’Tis I that do bereave them of their joy and chief delight.”
19 Thus did I see this bragging Boy advance himself even then,
20 Deriding at the wanton toys, of foolish loving men,
21 Which when I saw for anger then my panting breast did beat,
22 To see how he sat taunting them, upon his royal seat.
23 O then I wished I had been free, and cured were my wound;
24 Methought I could display his arms, and coward deeds expound.
25 But I perforce must stay my muse, full sore against my heart,
26 For that I am a subject wight, and lanced with his dart.
27 But if that I achieve the fort, which I have took in charge,
28 My hand and head with quivering quill, shall blaze his name at large.
Textual sources: Harleian MS 7392(2) (British Library). Lines 1-16 were first published as by Thomas Churchyard, as part of a longer poem, in Churchyard’s Chance (1580), revised and reprinted in England’s Helicon (1600), signed “Ignoto.” Lines 17-28 derive only from the Harleian MS. See May (PBO #4) (1980, 41-42, 82-83, 123; 1991, 284-86) (not in Hannah or Grosart). Lines 1-16 appear as “The Shepherd’s Slumber” in Looney (1921, 72-73, Miller ed. 1975, 1: 630-31) (reprinting from England’s Helicon; lines 17-28 are not in Looney).
In May’s opinion (1980, 82-83), lines 1-16 (and the remainder of the poem in Churchyard’s Chance, England’s Helicon, and Looney) are by Churchyard, not de Vere. May (1980, 82), arguing that the text of this poem is “surprisingly corrupt,” allows only that lines 17-28 “could be Oxford’s.” But the ascription to “Ignoto” in England’s Helicon seems inexplicable if Churchyard were the author, and is more consistent with ascribing to de Vere all the lines given here. There are grounds to link certain uses of the pen name “Ignoto” with de Vere, as Professor Stritmatter will discuss in his published study.
Structure: Twenty-eight lines of rhyming couplets, with half-line rhymes in lines 1-16.
Looney’s title: “The Shepherd’s Slumber”
Past commentaries on parallels: Sobran (266-70).
Clarifications of the text:
(1) A peascod is the pod of a pea plant (OED 11: 404-05), so peascod time means the harvest season for that crop.
(12) Cupid, in classical mythology, is the god of love (see lines 14 and 20) and desire.
(17) The term wits as used here refers to intelligence or mental sharpness, not humor (OED 20: 432-34).
(25) The nine Muses, in Greek mythology, are the inspirational goddesses of poets and other writers, artists, and scholars.
(26) A wight means a person (who can be male or female), with some connotation of commiseration or contempt (OED 20: 328).
Strongest parallels to No. 20:
(4) parched my face with Phoebus, lo, by walking in the air
‘Think on me, That am with Phoebus’ amorous pinches black And wrinkled deep in time?’ (A&C, 1.5.27-29); cf. ‘parch in Afric sun’ (Troil., 1.3.369); ‘Lo! whilst I waited on my tender lambs, And to sun’s parching heat displayed my cheeks’ (1 Hen. VI, 1.2.77).
Phoebus (see also Nos. 14.31, 17.24, and 19.8) is an epithet for Apollo, Greco-Roman god of the sun. There are 23 references to Phoebus (including one spelled “Phibbus”) in canonical Shakespeare (Spevack 976-77). Apollo is referenced once in these de Vere poems (No. 3.6) and 29 times in canonical Shakespeare (Spevack 54).
(6) And there I found the strangest dream, that ever young man had
‘I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was’ (Dream, 4.1.205); ‘the rarest dream that e’er dulled sleep’ (Per., 5.1.161); cf. ‘Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think’ (R&J, 5.1.7).
(12-13) feeding on the hearts of men, whom Cupid’s bow hath slain. And that blind Boy sat all in blood, bebathed to the ears
‘bathed in maiden blood’ (Titus, 2.3.232); ‘let us bathe our hands in Caesar’s blood’ (Caes., 3.1.106); ‘bathe my dying honour in the blood’ (A&C, 4.2.6); ‘The mailed Mars shall on his altar sit Up to the ears in blood’ (1 Hen. IV, 4.1.117); cf. ‘Out, damned spot! Out, I say! … Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him? … What, will these hands ne’er be clean?’ (Mac., 5.1.32, 35-37, 40).
While the last of the foregoing echoes lacks the explicit double parallels to blood and bathe (or ears), Lady Macbeth is desperately seeking to wash (bathe) off her victim’s blood. The vividly horrific impression left by all the samples is of inundation in blood.
See also: ‘slain in Cupid’s wars’ (Per., 1.1.38); cf. ‘Cupid’s bow’ (Venus, 581); ‘Cupid’s strongest bow’ (Dream, 1.1.169); ‘Cupid’s bow-string’ (Much, 3.2.10).
(27-28) But if that I achieve the fort [i.e., his beloved], which I have took in charge, My hand and head with quivering quill, shall blaze his name at large
‘He hath achieved a maid … that excels the quirks of blazoning pens’ (Oth., 2.1.61, 63); cf. ‘the half-achieved Harfleur [a French port]’ (Hen. V, 3.3.8).
Additional parallels to No. 20:
(1) In peascod time
‘these nine and twenty years, come peascod-time’ (2 Hen. IV, 2.4.383).
(1) when hound to horn gives ear
‘She hearkens for his hounds and for his horn’ (Venus, 868); cf. ‘Adonis comes with horn and hounds’ (Pass. Pilg., 9.6); ‘with horn and hound’ (Titus, 1.1.494); ‘hounds and horns’ (Titus, 2.3.27).
(2) boys with pipes of corn sit keeping beasts in field
‘And in the shape of Corin sat all day, Playing on pipes of corn’ (Dream, 2.1.66-67); ‘When shepherds pipe on oaten straws’ (LLL, 5.2.903). Corin was a name commonly used by poets for a shepherd boy.
(7) each Christmas game
‘a Christmas gambold’ (Shrew, ind.2.134-35).
(10) Because I lack the skill to draw
‘I have no skill in sense to make distinction’ (All’s Well, 3.4.39); ‘Sir, I have not much skill in grass’ (All’s Well, 4.5.21); ‘I have not the skill’ (Ham., 3.2.362); cf. ‘Which far exceeds his barren skill to show’ (Lucrece, 81); ‘with the little skill I have’ (Titus, 2.1.43); ‘Had I sufficient skill to utter them’ (3 Hen. VI, 5.5.13); ‘if I have any skill’ (Kins., 5.2.53).
(11) But Venus shall not ’scape my pen
‘and who shall scape whipping?’ (Ham., 2.2.530); ‘thou shalt not escape calumny’ (Ham., 3.1.136); ‘in sooth you scape not so’ (Shrew, 2.1.240); ‘we shall not scape a brawl’ (R&J, 3.1.3); ‘the villain shall not scape’ (Lear, 2.1.80).
(14) like a conqueror he stood
‘Did forfeit … all those lands Which he stood seized of to the conqueror’ (Ham., 1.1.88-89).
(14) he … scorned lovers’ tears
‘My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear’ (Rich. III, 1.2.164); cf. ‘Hunting he loved, but love he laughed to scorn’ (Venus, 4); ‘So mild that patience seemed to scorn his woes’ (Lucrece, 1505); ‘Why should you think that I should woo in scorn? Scorn and derision never come in tears’ (Dream, 3.2.123).
(15) “I have more hearts,” quoth he [the blind Boy Cupid], “at call, than Caesar could command”
‘Sextus Pompeius Hath given the dare to Caesar and commands The empire of the sea’ (A&C, 1.2.179-81); ‘His … ministers would prevail Under the service of a child as soon As i’ th’ command of Caesar’ (A&C, 3.13.22-25).
Considering the references in lines 14-15 to conqueror and Caesar, compare, e.g.:
‘Shall Caesar send a lie? Have I in conquest stretched mine arm so far To be afeared to tell greybeards the truth!’ (Caes., 2.2.66-67); ‘O mighty Caesar! Dost thou lie so low? Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils, Shrunk to this little measure?’ (Caes., 3.1.148-50); ‘she which by her death our Caesar tells I am conqueror of myself’ (A&C, 4.14.61-62); ‘A kind of conquest Caesar made here’ (Cym., 3.1.22-23).
One would expect to see references to Caesar’s conquests in a play like Julius Caesar. But it is noteworthy that de Vere refers three times to Caesar in these twenty poems (in a rather unexpected context here; see also No. 5, lines 9 and 18), while Shakespeare devotes an entire play to the Roman leader and refers to him dozens of times in almost half the plays in the canon (not even counting Julius Caesar itself, nor Anthony and Cleopatra, both of which refer to him passim) (Spevack 166-67).
(16) “like the deer I make them fall”
‘Here wast thou bayed, brave hart; Here didst thou fall … How like a deer strucken by many princes Doth thou here lie!’ (Caes., 3.1.205).
(17) “dim their sight”
‘Gazing on that which seems to dim thy sight’ (2 Hen. VI, 1.2.6).
(18) “bereave them of their joy and chief delight”
‘bereave him of his wits with wonder’ (1 Hen. VI, 5.3.195); cf. ‘joy delights in joy’ (Sonnets, 8.2).
(19-20) this bragging Boy [Cupid] … Deriding at the wanton toys, of foolish loving men
‘To toy, to wanton, dally, smile, and jest’ (Venus, 106); ‘toys Of feathered Cupid’ (Oth., 1.3.268).
Shakespeare associates wanton with Cupid and boys on several occasions (Spevack 1440), e.g.:
‘the weak wanton Cupid’ (Troil., 3.3.222); ‘As flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods; They kill us for their sport’ (Lear, 4.1.36-37).
(22) upon his royal seat
‘The rightful heir of England’s royal seat’ (2 Hen. VI, 5.1.178); ‘in the seat royal of this famous isle’ (Rich. III, 3.1.164); cf. ‘this the regal seat’ (3 Hen. VI, 1.1.26); ‘Have shaken Edward from the regal seat’ (3 Hen. VI, 4.6.2); ‘the supreme seat’ (Rich. III, 3.7.118); ‘the seat of majesty’ (Rich. III, 3.7.169).
(23) cured were my wound
‘cureless are my wounds’ (3 Hen. VI, 2.6.23); ‘with a wound I must be cured’ (A&C, 4.14.78); cf. ‘A smile recures [i.e., cures] the wounding of a frown’ (Venus, 465); ‘the deer That hath received some unrecuring [i.e., incurable] wound’ (Titus, 3.1.90).
(24) coward deeds expound
‘to expound His beastly mind’ (Cym., 1.6.152-53).
(25) But I perforce must stay my muse
‘But my Muse labours’ (Oth., 2.1.127); ‘my sick Muse doth give another place’ (Sonnets, 79.3-4); ‘My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still [i.e., politely stays quiet]’ (Sonnets, 85.1); ‘Alack what poverty my Muse brings forth … O blame me not if I no more can write!’ (Sonnets, 103.1, 5).
And with that suitable line, we must stay the website version of this study.
Return to Poem No. 19, to Poem No. 1, or to the Introduction.
[published June 22, 2018, updated 2021]
