SHAKESPEARE'S LANGUAGE
SIL—Miss Emery's letter in last week's issue only rubs salt in my wounds. If 1 had been a don, my equation of 'will' with the sexual organ, and 'spirit' with semen, in Shakespeare's Sonnets would have been published to the world when I first hit upon it in 1950 instead of remaining a secret between me and my tutor.
As it is, I can only take what little comfort there is to be gained from noting that Dr. Rouse knows about 'will' but not 'spirit' and Dr. Fiedler about 'spirit' but not about And I can at least claim to have pointed out both synonyms (as well as giving a reminder about the Shakespearian use of 'die' for an orgasm) last year in the Sunday Tele- graph, and this year in the February issue of the American magazine Mademoiselle, before I had read either of those two learned gentlemen.
42 Laurier Road, London; NW5
ALAN BRIEN
Previous page
