To celebrate National Poetry Day today we are looking at Shakespeare’s Poems, a collection of the Sonnets from 1640 which were rearranged and retitled by John Benson. Sonnets had fallen out of fashion at the time and so Benson reissued them as poems and assigned them titles such as “True Admiration”, “Youthful Glory”, “Foolish Disdain” and “Familiarity Breeds Content”. In Benson’s note to the reader he says “such gentle straines as shall recreate and not perplexe your braine, no intricate or cloudy stuffe to puzzle intellect, but perfect eloquence”. Just a bit of light reading then!
The poem below has been written by Rachael Krier our Cataloguing Archivist. It is inspired by the parish register which includes William Shakespeare’s baptism and burial records. When Shakespeare was born the burial register records “Hic incepit pestis” or here begins the plague and the number of burials dramatically increases.
Hic incepit pestis- by Rachael Krier
Perhaps it begins here
in a boat
crossing continents
perilous
precious cargo
Perhaps it begins here
on the quay
soldiers singing
scarred
homeward bound
Perhaps it begins here
in a market
trading tales
speculating
bartered, bought
Perhaps it begins here
in the pit
parts played
prompting
exits, entrances
Perhaps it begins here
in a tavern
bed-bugs biting
dreaming
journey’s end
Perhaps it begins here
in a church
weekly worship
faithful
delivered, departing
It begins here
in a workshop
worsted, woven
intertwining
fortune, fate
It begins here
in the register
recorded, remembered.
Buried
Oliver Gunne.
Hic incepit pestis- This phrase is written in the parish register for Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon and indicates that the plague had struck: ‘here begins the plague’. It is written next to the 1564 burial entry for Oliver Gunne, a weaver’s apprentice and the first person to die of the plague in Stratford.