Cy nthia , with Ce r tain Sonnet s: Sonnet 5 (“It is
reported of fair Thetis’ son”) RICHARD BARNFIELD
(1595) Sonnet 5 develops the imagery of the Trojan
War. In it, the speaker, Daphnis, is wounded by Gany-
mede’s eyes, which are full of desire. At the beginning
of the SONNET, Achilles is praised for his “... CHIVALRY,
/ His noble minde and magnanimity” (ll. 2–3), and by
extension these qualities are projected onto Ganymede.
The poem records the tradition that only the person
who is wounded by Achilles’ spear could be healed by
a second touch of that “speares rust” (l. 8). The speaker,
Daphnis, understands his fate to be like that of the per-
son wounded by Achillles. The spear is equated with
the “piercing eie” (l. 10) of Ganymede, but the “rem-
edy” (l. 11) and how to fi nd it remain unclear. Here the
speaker seems to be playing the part of the coy lover,
adopting at times both masculine and feminine quali-
ties, as was common in RICHARD BARNFIELD’s verse.
The poem’s fi nal COUPLET of the poem takes on a
kind of teasing quality. The speaker says, “Then if thou
hast a minde still to annoy me, / Kill me with kisses, if
thou wilt destroy me” (ll. 13–14). The effect of “annoy”
and “destroy” is highly signifi cant because it connects
the concepts of pain and pleasure. Given that the son-
net connects pain and pleasure together with the use of
the imagery of war and healing, it seems only appro-
priate that the poet closes the poem with the bitter-
sweet connections of that characteristic oxymoron. As
in Sonnet 1, the speaker seems to desire the fulfi llment
of that connected pain and pleasure, “I know not how”
(l. 12). Here the speaker seems to be playing as much
with the minds of his audience as with Ganymede.
See also CLASSICAL TRADITION; CYNTHIA, WITH CERTAIN
SONNETS (OVERVIEW).
Daniel F. PiggCy nthia , with Ce r tain Sonnet s: Sonnet 9
(“Diana—on a time—walking the wood”) RICH-
ARD BARNFIELD (1595) Sonnet 9 develops a rich
mythology for the origin of Ganymede that combines
both elements represented by Diana, the goddess of
chastity, and Venus, the goddess of love; the pairing of
the two reveals important aspects of Ganymede’s nature.
According to the myth, Diana “Chanc’t for to pricke her
foote against a thorne” (l. 4), and Venus was able to col-
lect the drops of blood into a crystal vial. Venus, taking
Diana’s blood and snow from Rhodope (a mountain in
Greece), creates “A lovely creature, brighter than the
Dey” (l. 12). The combination of Diana and Venus is
important here, for it conjoins desire and the tempering
of desire at the same time. The image is one of chaste
desire, an oxymoron intended to reveal important
aspects of a creature fashioned by Venus. The poet is
careful here of his historical allegory because it would
have been less likely that Diana, connected with chas-
tity, would produce such a child. Venus, combining
elements of the human body and the ephemeral nature
of snow, creates an image of beauty.
In the SONNET’s fi nal COUPLET, Venus takes the male
child, has him “christened in faire Paphos shrine” (l.
13), and gives him the name Ganymede, a name of
divine origin, according to the poem. According to leg-
end, Ganymede, the son of King Tros, possessed great
beauty. He was supposedly acting as a shepherd boy
when Apollo abducted him. The intent of the poem is
to show his divine origin and also to provide a ratio-
nalized view of his mixed qualities of passion and
restraint.
See also CLASSICAL TRADITION; CYNTHIA, WITH CERTAIN
SONNETS (OVERVIEW).Cynthia, with Certain Sonnets: Sonnet 11
(“Sighing, and sadly sitting by my love”) RICH-
ARD BARNFIELD (1595) Unlike many of the SONNETs
in which Daphnis is speaking in a monologue to him-
self, Sonnet 11 contains a dialogue between Daphnis
and Ganymede who are seated beside each other.
Daphnis’s sadness is apparent, so Ganymede inquires
about its source. In a veiled reference, Daphnis credits
his sadness to love and its incompleteness. Given that
the poem employs an enigma in interpretation, Gany-
mede asks, “And what is she (quoth he) whom thou
do’st love?” (l. 9). Whether Ganymede is being coy
here or the poet is playing with the pronoun she to
distinguish his poetry from that of other sonnet writ-
ers, the effect is clear.
A momentary interpretive problem is introduced
that can only be solved with a rather dramatic revela-
tion. Daphnis provides a mirror for Ganymede to lookCYNTHIA, WITH CERTAIN SONNETS: SONNET 11 135