Albert,
I have a some of reservations about call the l. 13 "that" a demonstrative. Certainly in Present Day English that is the only analysis possible, but then it would weaken the poem. The poem is about love, not a specific love as demonstrative "that" would require. Also, the demonstrative would have to have an antecedent. There is a candidate for that antecedent in l. 10 "constant love," but that produces an odd meaning, that the poet is specifically referring to the aforementioned "constant love," which occurs two sentences before and contrasts with "want of wit," rather than simply to grammatically generic love. The WH+that construction is not unusual in EME; the WH-words have not yet fully attained their modern subordinator status, and the use of subordinator "that" reinforces the subordination. Finally, demonstrative "that" would add a stress to the line reducing it to a lamely iambic line rather than the metrical variant of and two anapests, which works nicely at this point in the sonnet.
Then, ev'n of fellowship, O Moon, tell me,
Is constant love deem'd there but want of wit? 10
Are beauties there as proud as here they be?
Do they above love to be lov'd, and yet
Those lovers scorn whom that love doth possess?
Do they call virtue there ungratefulness?
Of course, none of these arguments is conclusive, but they seem more consistent with both EME grammar and the sense of the poem.
Herb
-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Albert E. Krahn
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 5:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Herb's poem
I think I would vote for the "that" in line 13 as a demonstrative which refers to the kind of love mentioned in the few lines prior. Nice poem, though.
Punctuation! Yes, a big problem. Editors think they are smarter than the original authors of things sometimes and distort meanings as a result, as well as destroying some kind of history. Poetry, especially, deserves preservation.
Albert E. Krahn
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
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