case choice by rhyme

[Baker, John]

        Reading this, it strikes me that I was careless in my prior
response.   Joel saw the brief quotation, "I think my love as rare As
any she belied with false compare," which I cited as another, older
example of a personal pronoun used as an ordinary head noun.  I
understood his question to be, in substance, why we were jumping to the
conclusion that "she" was not the subject of "belied," in which case
"she" would have been used in its ordinary sense as a pronoun.  My
overhasty answer explained that we know, from the larger context, that
this is not the case.  In doing so, however, I appeared to agree that
"she" is the object of "belied."

        Actually, I don't think "she" is the object of "belied" at all.
"She" is the object of the preposition "as."  "Belied" is a participle
modifying "she."

        As Larry explains, the object of a comparison can be in either
the nominative or the accusative case.  My understanding, however, is
that when the object is in the nominative case, "is" (or a similar verb)
is implied:  X is as rare as she (is).  The presence of a participle
removes the possibility of an implied verb, at least in this example.
To see this, suppose that Shakespeare was comparing his mistress to a
number of other women, rather than to "any she."  Then he would have
written "I think my love as rare as them belied with false compare," not
"I think my love as rare as they belied with false compare."

        As in Arnold's example, "Take a look and see You've hooked the
she Who'll agree Quite cheerfully," changing the pronoun "she" to the
accusative "her" to suit its function in the sentence would in no wise
be an improvement.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Laurence Horn
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 10:19 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: case choice by rhyme

At 9:50 AM -0400 9/22/05, Baker, John wrote:
>         It's clear from the context of the sonnet, which I did not
>quote in full in my prior post.  Shakespeare is criticizing the false
>comparisons poets make about their mistresses:
>
>MY mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun Coral is far more red than
>her lips' red:
>If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires,
>black wires grow on her head.
>I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in
>her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the
>breath that from my mistress reeks.
>I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more
>pleasing sound:
>I grant I never saw a goddess go,-
>My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
>   And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
>   As any she belied with false compare.
>
>
>John Baker

It makes it clear that "she" indeed corresponds to a subject within its
clause--the subject, that is, of (passive) "[who is] belied by false
compare".  But this isn't really relevant to its case (see below).
Complicating the situation is that the "object of comparison" has for
centuries occurred both in the nominative and in the objective:

X is as rare as she/her.
Y is rarer than he/him.

The fact that the post-equative pronoun is quantified by "any" and is
the subject of a passive clause doesn't affect this.  Presumably the
voice of Shakespearean sonnets is formal enough that a nominative would
be expected in this position.  The relation of "she" and "belied" is not
really relevant here, as can be seen from contexts not involving
comparatives/equatives:

I saw her whom I love.
I was seen by she whom I love.

Of course, I'm on shakier ground in these matters than our resident
expert.  Arnold?

L

>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
>Behalf Of Joel S. Berson
>Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 9:38 AM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: case choice by rhyme
>
>Please tell me why this "she" should be read as the object of "belied"
>rather than the subject".
>
>At 9/21/2005 03:50 PM, you wrote:
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: case choice by rhyme
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>-
>>--------
>>
>>          It's not new.  Compare Shakespeare's Sonnet CXXX:
>>
>>"And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with
>>false compare."
>>
>>          Shakespeare didn't need the rhyme, but he did need a
>>monosyllabic reference for his dark lady.
>>
>>John Baker