Like all the kindest men’s in history,
Will’s anima was truly integrated;
And thus it should be no great mystery
His sonnets are by many males so hated.
For in most of them the Bard’s benign narrator,
Who loves a younger man platonically,
Uses his anima – that liberator –
To view this cynosure unselfishly.
In contrast, two sonnets on his femme fatale,
Who has his friend unscrupulously seduced,
Briefly the speaker’s benevolence annul,
When hellish curses are in them produced.
Though William was undoubtedly paternal,
Thanks to his anima, he was also maternal.
Will’s anima was truly integrated;
And thus it should be no great mystery
His sonnets are by many males so hated.
For in most of them the Bard’s benign narrator,
Who loves a younger man platonically,
Uses his anima – that liberator –
To view this cynosure unselfishly.
In contrast, two sonnets on his femme fatale,
Who has his friend unscrupulously seduced,
Briefly the speaker’s benevolence annul,
When hellish curses are in them produced.
Though William was undoubtedly paternal,
Thanks to his anima, he was also maternal.
10 May 2025
P.S. It’s fitting that in England in Shakespeare’s age
By males the female roles were played on stage.