Answering a question by means of such wordplay makes a strong\u00a0impression of solving some kind of crossword. The kind of wordsubstitution\u00a0also known – in Dutch anyway – as; \u2018cryptogram\u2019, which in turn is Latin for\u00a0\u2018coded message\u2019. And judged by the host of enigmatic details introduced in\u00a0Part One, it would be no exaggeration to regard the cycle of\u00a0Three<\/i>\u00a0Elizabethan Part Songs<\/i>\u00a0as cryptic. Could this be because it was designed as\u00a0an encoded message in the first place? It would be an interesting\u00a0explanation for its numerous strange features, but the story that links the\u00a0songs together, is far too common and easy to spot to be such a message.\u00a0If there is one, it must be deeper down and it must be something important\u00a0to justify such an elaborate scheme.<\/p>\n
It is no coincidence that this comment on the complete cycle is very similar\u00a0to the one I made in Part One on the seventh line of\u00a0Sweet Day<\/i>. The line\u00a0that seems to have deeper grounds as the obvious interpretation of\u00a0foretelling death. The line that is so clearly marked by its grammar, and that\u00a0deals with music that does not exist. The line, in fact, that in referring to\u00a0music has its counterparts in both\u00a0The Willow Song<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0O Mistress Mine<\/i>; the\u00a0refrain and the third line respectively. And when compared, especially this\u00a0third line looks rather interesting:<\/p>\n
That can sing both high and low<\/i><\/p>\n
Once more we are facing a line that does everything to attract the attention.\u00a0By grammar to begin with; \u2018that\u2019 is referring to the singer. Apart from this\u00a0alert signal, however, the line might be considered perfect in its place in a\u00a0song. Yet it could not be spotted in a less fitting environment. The singer\u00a0has only twelve lines at his disposal to express his ambigious feelings\u00a0towards his unfaithfull mistress, and he is now wasting seven precious\u00a0words to tell her something he can demonstrate without the slightest effort,\u00a0as both the original setting by Thomas Morley (1557 – 1603) and the one by\u00a0Ralph Vaughan Williams at this very spot prove.<\/p>\n
And thus the innocent reader is confronted with yet another reversion; does SD feature some words on music that does not exist, in OMM it is the music\u00a0that denies some words their reason to be. The average crossword\u00a0enthousiast by now figures out in no time which way TWS fits into this\u00a0pattern. But after four centuries there is no need to hurry. So, in order to\u00a0decipher the message methodically, at first the cycle\u2019s overall structure will\u00a0be determined. And, funny enough, this structure is a message in itself. The\u00a0poetry of both SD and TWS is easily summarized in prose, resulting in:<\/p>\n
Only the virtuous soul shall live Two contrasting versions of the same object; divine love, the main theme of\u00a0all Herbert\u2019s poetry, and adult(erous) human love from\u00a0Othello<\/i>\u00a0are making a\u00a0single statement of two lines, the second one repeating the first by\u00a0contrast. And this confirms the main conclusion of Part One;\u00a0Virtue<\/i>\u00a0is indeed\u00a0carefully designed to establish the cycle. SD\u2019s combination with TWS is\u00a0perfectly resembling the structure of the opening triplet from OMM: two lines\u00a0of love poetry preceding a single prosa\u00efc statement containing a sharp\u00a0contrast. And OMM\u2019s summary also sounds familiar:<\/p>\n I care not for virtuous life —<\/span><\/p>\n —<\/span><\/p>\n go to next chapter<\/a>\u00a0– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/span>\u00a0back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Answering a question by means of such wordplay makes a strong\u00a0impression of solving some kind of crossword. The kind of wordsubstitution\u00a0also known – in Dutch anyway – as; \u2018cryptogram\u2019, which in turn is Latin for\u00a0\u2018coded message\u2019. And judged by the … Continue reading
\n<\/em><\/span><\/i>and<\/span>
\nThe soul which is not virtuous shall die<\/em><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n
\n<\/i><\/p>\n