Subject: Sonnet 18The person who sent me this e-letter doesn't know me (if she did, she wouldn't ask me for information on Shakespeare). And if that's the case, why am I the recipient of this query. The answer is actually rather simple: In column No. 12: Shall I Compare Thee to a Printed Page? I referred to Shakespeare's sonnet No. 18. I thought I'd done this in a manner that made it clear that I wasn't analyzing the sonnet but rather looking at how the web can affect the way we read. But sometimes we underestimate the possibility of being misunderstood.
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 10:27:17 PDT
From: withheld to protect the guilty
To: jhurvitz@ort.org.ilHello!!
My name is (still withheld) and I wonder if you have some analyses of Sonnet 18
that I could look on, because I am going to analyse Sonnet 18 in the
school. If you could send me this as fast as you can I would be very
pleased...
Thank you for the help...
Please send it directly, I am desperate...
Thanks
Love (once again, name withheld)
I wrote back to (name withheld) and told her that I was far from an expert on Shakespeare. I didn't write that I'd posted that column almost a year and a half ago and that it took a couple of minutes of head scratching before I finally figured out why she was turning to me with her request. She wrote back:
Thank you for your answer.And there we have it: A concrete example of how a web presence makes you an authority on something about which you may know almost nothing.
I also thougt that this Sonnet was beutiful, but I need some good
explenation why. My English is not good, so I can`t write why with a
good English....if you have time..please send me an expenation why you
think this sonnet is so beutiful....
Grateful for answer.
Thanks