leylandandgoding
Last updated: June 25, 2020
TENT/TILT
When setting the Dedication in a grid, it's unclear where to set the final initials TT:
- following on immediately from the main text
- leaving one space (as after MrWH)
- at the end of Row 10;
- on a new row, Row 11 (perhaps supported by SETTING.FORTH).
In our book we set TT following on immediately from the text in Row 10. However, we also observed a logical alternative being to place TT on a new row, Row 11.
Our first choice obscured the observations outlined below.
The initials TT as a new row (Row 11)
Setting TT in a new row introduces two additional mappings:
- TENT reads vertically at 1,11 (and at 11,1) which maps uniquely to Sonnet 111.
- TT is now at the 151st and 152nd cells, allowing a reference to Sonnet pair 151-152. In sonnets 151-152 we observed two and twenty oaths which confirmed our theory that TT=22 (see notes on Sonnets 151-152 below).
1. What does TENT mean to Shakespeare? (Sonnets 111-2)
Tent certainly meant a shelter that soldiers used. However, Schmidt’s Shakespeare Lexicon also defines Tent both as a surgical probe and as a cure:
Sonnet Pair 111-112Booth observes that Sonnets 111-112 are a pair that evoke both human branding and the treatment/cure of that wound.
(Booth, S. Shakespeare's Sonnets, Yale, Nota Bene, 1970).
Booth comments extensively on the medical content of 111 (means = medicines, renewed = cured, correct, correction = cure). Indeed, Sonnet 111 ends with cure me.
Sonnet 112 extends this theme to the treating (filling the wound) of a brand - presumably with a tent. Indeed, the word steeld (a major crux in the sonnets) evokes use of a sharp point to engrave (cf. tent).
The collective weight of these references can be seen to evoke the word Tent – as both a surgical probe and a cure.
Steeld in Sonnet 112
Booth’s note on the problematic/crux word Steeld in Sonnet 112 refers the reader to his note on Steeld in Sonnet 24.
Given Sonnet 111-112's evocaion of Tent (as a surgical probe), the significance of Steeld in Sonnet 112 (as a stylus for inscribing) may offer a final resolution to this crux.
2: What does TT mean? (Sonnets 151-152)
The first TT in the dedication occurs in BEGETTER at cell 15 – allowing a reading of the acrostic TTMAP as 15MAP or a map of 15 columns (as in our grid setting).
We noted that the only instance of twenty-two in the sonnets occurs in the Sonnet pair 151-152 (which maps to this first TT):
But why of two oaths breach do I accuse thee
When I break twenty ...
This observation, confirmed our theory that TT stands for 22. This is essential to the complete solution; NEVI joins LLE via TT (i.e. count 22 cells - in blue below).
The pairing of these sonnets is evident in at least two ways: the unambiguous sexual depiction (unique to this pair); and, the reference to the blind baby Cupid "Love", 151/1 and its complement "gave eyes to blindness", 152/11.
Sonnet pair 151-152 maps to this 1st instance of TT, the initials TT and the acrostic word TILT. A Tilt is a lance - a pointed object for penetrating human flesh, not unlike a tent. In this way, the two and twenty oaths map precisely to the TT initials.
The rotational synmmetry of TILT and TENT may also be noteworthy, particularly given the direction TERNIT and the "arrow" pictogram (another flesh-piercing object). We propose that this pictogram represents the Sonnets' two recurrent themes; Time and Love. This device is both a clock hand and Cupid's arrow.
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An unanswered question; as a part of his correction during 2 years in the Tower for his role in the Essex Rebellion, was Nevill branded TT or T for Traitor as was common practice?
Would this shed any light on the last two sonnets 153 and 154 which both reference Cupid's brand?
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Appendix: From WWBMV?
