Dec 19, 2009

Sonnet XXIX | Finding Words

In this essay, Moran explores the ways in
which “Sonnet XXIX” dramatizes the workings of
Elizabeth’s mind as she thinks of her absent lover.

In his 1755 Preface to the English Dictionary, the lexicographer Samuel Johnson defends his decision not to alter the spellings of the words in his book to suit changes in use or pronunciation. “There is in constancy and stability a general and lasting advantage,” he explains, “which will always overbalance the slow improvements of gradual correction.” However, Johnson also acknowledges that all debates about spelling and pronunciation are, in a greater sense, almost trivial:

This recommendation of steadiness and uniformity does not proceed from an...