# Shakespeare, Love Sonnet 144 and the Authorities.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-love-sonnet-144-and-the-authorities/828693>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 30, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-love-sonnet-144-and-the-authorities/828693 "2019-01-30T21:39:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-love-sonnet-144-and-the-authorities/828693/21 "2019-02-04T05:24:17Z")

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> [@Jim\_B](#):
>
> Actually apparently he was. This is what I remember from high school…
> 
> refers to an STD.
> 
> My only question, actually, is whether oral sex was treated the same way under the law then. I don’t know if he was referring to oral sex. But it is still a good question.
> 
> And BTW, thank you **Chronos** for posting the actual poem. As I said before, for some reason I can’t copy and paste with my smartphone on this site. I guess I could do it by hand. But mercifully I won’t;).

It may not be totally relevant to the thread, but here is a quote from Cymbeline Act 2, Scene 3:

CLOTEN

```
I would this music would come: I am advised to give
her music o' mornings; they say it will penetrate.

Enter Musicians
Come on; tune: if you can penetrate her with your
fingering, so; we'll try with tongue too: if none
will do, let her remain; but I'll never give o'er.
First, a very excellent good-conceited thing;
after, a wonderful sweet air, with admirable rich
words to it: and then let her consider.

```

When I acted in the Monroe County (IN) Civic Theatre’s production of Cymbeline a few years ago, we definitely interpreted the above as a reference to oral sex.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-love-sonnet-144-and-the-authorities/828693/22 "2019-02-04T16:42:08Z")

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There’s also the “tongue in tail” passage from _The Taming of the Shrew_. Yeah, it’s hard to interpret either of those as anything but a reference to cunnilingus.

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**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shakespeare-love-sonnet-144-and-the-authorities/828693/23 "2019-02-04T20:04:16Z")

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…we have a book on it:

> **[Shakespeare's Bawdy (Routledge Classics): Amazon.co.uk: Partridge, Eric:...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shakespeares-Bawdy-Routledge-Classics-Partridge/dp/0415254000)**
>
> Buy Shakespeare's Bawdy (Routledge Classics) 4 by Partridge, Eric (ISBN: 9780415254007) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

Actually, neither **Chronos’** nor **The\_Peyote\_Coyote’s** quoted sections seem to be mentioned, and Sonnet 144 (and 20) are held up as evidence of the author’s heterosexuality (!)

So: an incomplete glossary of Shakespearian filth.

j

BTW: the book was written in 1947 (which would have fairly seriously limited what it was possible to say about the texts) and some of the views expressed about homosexuality are - uh - regrettable. You have been warned.

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