This appendix to Poem No. 18 is part of the presentation of early poems by Edward de Vere. See the Introduction.
Appendix B: Further Notes to Poem No. 18
Professor May, while including the text of No. 18b in his 1975 article (391 n. 1, 392-93), did not include those four stanzas in his later editions of de Vere’s poetry (1980, 39-40; 1991, 283-84). He apparently concluded that the evidence, which he found to “possibly” support de Vere’s authorship of the eight stanzas in No. 18 (1975, 386-89; 1980, 39-40), does not sufficiently support de Vere or any other specific poet as the author of No. 18b (which May called “Part 2” of No. 18) (1975, 389-90).
On the other hand, the evidence cited by May is in no way inconsistent with de Vere’s authorship and does in fact provide some support for it. As May noted (1975, 390), No. 18b became merged with No. 18 in some manuscript and print sources by no later than 1616. While there is apparently no surviving evidence documenting a merger of the poems before that date, there also seems to be no evidence against a much earlier merger (see 389-90).
Nor did May cite any evidence against the two poems having common authorship — which seems likely given their similarities and continuities in style and subject. May noted Rollins’s view that “all twelve stanzas were originally a single poem” by a single author (Rollins 1929, 1: 226, quoted in May 1975, 389) — though May (as we agree) found de Vere’s authorship more likely overall than Rollins’s attribution to Edward Dyer (May 1975, 386-89).
As May noted, No. 18b was first printed in 1588, and a manuscript reference “suggests that additions to the original text were circulating even as early as 1581” (389) — when, it should be noted, de Vere was only 31. Most significantly, May noted (389) that an anonymous manuscript poem responding to No. 16 — which he himself more confidently ascribes to de Vere — paraphrases No. 18b (line 19, “Court … cart”), and thus implies that de Vere wrote No. 18b as well. May also noted (388-89) a separate manuscript response to No. 16 that paraphrases No. 18 (part of the evidence supporting de Vere’s authorship of No. 18). May concluded that “the evidence is inconclusive, yet … these two possible allusions ten[d] to link ‘My mind to me’ more closely with Oxford …” (389).
We agree the evidence is not “conclusive.” But what we have weighs in favor of de Vere’s authorship of both Nos. 18 and 18b. The allusions linking No. 16 to both seem telling, and there seems no strong reason to think No. 18b was merely grafted onto No. 18 by some other poet, editor, publisher, or copyist.
Most likely, some sources simply preserved a single overall poem in various incomplete or fragmentary states, which would hardly be surprising or unusual. For example, May noted that the manuscript of No. 18, which he cited as the primary basis for his attribution of all eight stanzas of that poem to de Vere, actually “transcribes only five of [its] eight stanzas, plus four lines of a sixth” (387). Alternatively, the same author who wrote No. 18 (most likely de Vere) may simply have added the four stanzas of No. 18b at some later time.
Return to Poem No. 18 or return to the Introduction.
[published June 22, 2018, updated 2021]
