POTM: King John - Berryman's Conjecture
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interesting conjecture in a previously unpublished essay on King John,
a play that John Berryman dated to 1590. Berryman discusses the
following passage from Act One:
BASTARD
James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile?
GURNEY
Good leave, good Philip.
BASTARD
Philip! sparrow: James,
There's toys abroad: anon I'll tell thee more.
After noting that Philip was a common name for a sparrow, and that
"toys" has the alternate meaning of "rumors", Berryman notes that
Shakespeare a few lines before refers to "Guy of Warwick" for the only
time in his known work.
A contemporary play,
Sparrow: I was born in Englad at Stratford upon Avon in
Warwickshire...
"I am a high mounting lofty-minded Sparrow
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entire post:
Here's an interesting conjecture from an previously unpublished essay
by poet John Berryman, in the essay collection "Berryman's
Shakespeare". Berryman, in "1590: King John", discusses the following
passage from Act One of the play:
BASTARD
James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile?
GURNEY
Good leave, good Philip.
BASTARD
Philip! sparrow: James,
There's toys abroad: anon I'll tell thee more.
After noting that Philip was a common name for a sparrow, and that
"toys" bears the alternate meaning "rumors", Berryman points out a few
lines before this passage, Shakespeare for the only time in his work
mentions "Guy of Warwick".
Berryman then points out the following curious quote from an anonymous
play "Guy Earl of Warwick", a play which he dates to 1593.
Sparrow: I was born in England at Stratford upon Avon in
Warwickshire...
The anonymous author also gives Sparrow other traits, such as low
origin, arrogance ("I am a high mounting lofty-minded Sparrow"),
thievery, lechery (he got a girl pregnant), and having a "fine
finical" name.
Berryman notes that the criticisms made against Sparrow in this
passage are, aside from the accusation of lechery and substituting
thievery for plagiarism, the same ones made in Greene's 1592 attack on
Shakespeare. (The name "Shakespeare" is much more "fine finical" than
Greene, Lodge, Nash, etc.) According to Berryman, the "Guy Earl of
Warwick" author is a young student of Greene, although this 1960 essay
breaks off after but a single stylistic comparision.
One of the HLAS Weird Sisters, Stephanie Caruna, quoted the Harbage
article Berryman refers to in his essay, although she spun it into the
party-line Oxfraudian argument "it never calls him a poet".
"...Why should the town be specified? And why should that town by
Stratford-upon-Avon?.... Sparrow is never referred to as a poet. If he
were,
we would be confronted by a minor miracle. because the allusion to
Shakspere
would be undebatable. Sparrow, in most ways the conventional clown, is
wholly base and contemptible.... I shall merely repeat that if Guy of
Warwick had been published in 1593, Sparrow would long since have been
identified as the dramatist and embattled commentators would contest
the
issue of whether Sir Guy adumbrates Southampton."
--"A Contemporary Attack upon Shakspere?", Shakespeare
Association
Bulletin, XVI,
January 1941.
Rita
> Sorry folks, I accidentally posted this before it was done. Here's the
> entire post:
>
> Here's an interesting conjecture from an previously unpublished essay
> by poet John Berryman, in the essay collection "Berryman's
> Shakespeare".
> Berryman then points out the following curious quote from an anonymous
> play "Guy Earl of Warwick", a play which he dates to 1593.
>
> Sparrow: I was born in England at Stratford upon Avon in
> Warwickshire...
>
> The anonymous author also gives Sparrow other traits, such as low
> origin, arrogance ("I am a high mounting lofty-minded Sparrow"),
> thievery, lechery (he got a girl pregnant), and having a "fine
> finical" name.
>
> Berryman notes that the criticisms made against Sparrow in this
> passage are, aside from the accusation of lechery and substituting
> thievery for plagiarism, the same ones made in Greene's 1592 attack on
> Shakespeare. (The name "Shakespeare" is much more "fine finical" than
> Greene, Lodge, Nash, etc.) According to Berryman, the "Guy Earl of
> Warwick" author is a young student of Greene, although this 1960 essay
> breaks off after but a single stylistic comparision.
>
the speaker commented then that 'fine finical' was a phrase rather
reminiscent of Nashe, who uses 'finical' or his own variants of it
(finicality, finicaldo, finikin, finify ) at least eight times in his
work. That doesn't necessarily mean Nashe had anything to do with 'Guy
of Warwick', but it does perhaps suggest that this scene was written
while he was an influence. This would strengthen the case for a date
of composition c.1593, though I believe the play wasn't published till
quite late in the 17th century?
I also think it was suggested that there was sexual innuendo in 'high
mounting'. Altogether it makes Sparrow a malicious portrait of
someone with a provincial background, a strong sex drive and ideas
above his station. (Nashe at any rate always uses 'finical' to suggest
something absurd and pretentious - Dr Harvey in his dapperest pomp,
the mincing pronunciation of a merchant's wife, a college barber's
attempt at a comic monologue.)
I admit I do think 'Philip Sparrow' is probably our swan.
Rita
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And thus our Crow.
lowercase dave
Rita
> > Altogether it makes Sparrow a malicious portrait of
> > someone with a provincial background, a strong sex drive and ideas
> > above his station. (Nashe at any rate always uses 'finical' to suggest
> > something absurd and pretentious - Dr Harvey in his dapperest pomp,
> > the mincing pronunciation of a merchant's wife, a college barber's
> > attempt at a comic monologue.)
> >
> > I admit I do think 'Philip Sparrow' is probably our swan.
> >
> > Rita
>
> I agree with you Rita. Do you think Nashe wrote it?
I don't know, because I've never seen the text. But I would think it
possible he might have contributed to the original play the later
printed version is based on. He was always a bit of a stirrer, so
attacking another writer would have been right in character...
(Sorry for the belated reply, something went wrong with Google at this
end - I couldn't read most of the posts.)
Rita