leylandandgoding
Last updated: January 2, 2021
RULE - The First Commandment
The mapping of RULE (10,9) has been perennially elusive.
RULE seems to beg for a poetic solution, and most likely to relate to a biblical commandment - the most ubiquitous and eternal examples of rules.
The connection between the word "Rule" and the Seventh Commandment (adultery being the obvious primary subject of Sonnet 109) seems just too tenuous.
A closer examination reveals a much closer association of the subject matter and language to the First Commandment, the Great Commandment that underpins the New Testament:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
The Sonnet Pair 109-110
As with so many Sonnet mappings, the referenced sonnet is the first of a pair. As well as the conjunctive "Alas, tis true.." of Sonnet 110, the pairing of Sonnets 109 and 110 is most easily confirmed via "thy breast" being the poet's "home of love" (109, lines 5-6), which is resolved as "thy pure and most, most loving breast" at the close of Sonnet 110 (110, line 14).
John Calvin's commentary on the First Commandment, describes superstition as akin to a wife committing adultery in front of her husband. Indeed, the First Commandment hearkens back to the "Original sin" which Protestant teaching (Luther, Calvin) equates with concupiscence - hurtful desire - adultery and fornication.
Line 12 of Sonnet 110 is very explicit, compare:
Commandment 1: Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Sonnet 110: A God in love to whom I am confined
Stephen Booth confirms this religious reading and reference to the First Commandment as a persistent structural theme:
The relationship between the word RULE and the Great Commandment may be seen to be very direct. We propose that this is the intended poetic mapping.
Why map the Sonnets to words that are incidental to the main message?We propose that the code in the dedication is a secure seal; it confirms the identity of the true author. Moreover, as we would expect of the greatest artist in the world, it is itself a great work of art.
