The appeal to personified Opportunity (ll. 869 sq.) seems an original device of Shakespeare, but the succeeding apostrophe to Time (ll. 939 sq.) covers ground which many poets had occupied before.

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# The Appeal to Personified Opportunity and Time ## Overview This subsection, titled "The appeal to personified Opportunity (ll. 869 sq.) seems an original device of Shakespeare, but the succeeding apostrophe to Time (ll. 939 sq.) covers ground which many poets had occupied before," is a textual analysis of Shakespeare's use of personification and apostrophe in his works. It specifically examines the lines referencing Opportunity and Time, dating from approximately 1590-1613, based on the context of Shakespeare's writing period. ## Context This analysis is part of a larger work, extracted from the file [pdf-01KG6Q7Q25RHMFT3SJXPV18VFF.txt](arke:01KG6S2X2EBB305ENM00G16GWA), and belongs to the collection [PDF Workflow Main Test 2026-01-30T00:26:53](arke:01KG6NWQ2H2K4PGG7H4ZHYCZ3Y). The subsection is situated within a broader discussion on the "Affinity with Ovid" ([arke:01KG6S5NXM2441JH7E4CSH2V03]), indicating a comparative literary study. It is preceded by a discussion on Shakespeare's expansion of classical tales ([arke:01KG6S6M67XQ54G949WJESM0FP]) and followed by an examination of other contemporary English poets' influence on Shakespeare ([arke:01KG6S6MNEES983R4HDE4678KM]). ## Contents The text details Shakespeare's use of personified Opportunity as a potentially original device, contrasting it with his apostrophe to Time, which drew upon established poetic traditions. It identifies specific English poets, Thomas Watson in *Hecatompathia* (1582) and Giles Fletcher in *Licia* (1593), whose works anticipated Shakespeare's treatment of Time's activities. The analysis traces influences further back to Italian poet Serafino and Latin poet Angerianus, and ultimately to Ovid's *Tristia*. The text notes Shakespeare's likely familiarity with Watson's work, evidenced by a direct quotation in *Much Ado about Nothing*, and suggests a similar familiarity with Fletcher's *Licia*. It also points to Ovid's *Ars Amatoria* and Vergil as potential sources for Shakespeare's imagery.

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The Appeal to Personified Opportunity and Time

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The appeal to personified Opportunity (ll. 869 sq.) seems an original device of Shakespeare, but the succeeding apostrophe to Time (ll. 939 sq.) covers ground which many poets had occupied before. Two English poets, Thomas Watson in *Hecatompathia* (1582, Sonnets xlvii and lxxvii), and Giles Fletcher in *Licia* (1593, Sonnet xxviii), anticipated at many points Shakespeare’s catalogue of Time’s varied activities. Watson acknowledged that his lines were borrowed from the Italian Serafino and Fletcher imitated the Neapolitan Latinist Angerianus; while both Serafino and Angerianus owed much on their part to Ovid’s pathetic lament in *Tristia* (iv. 6. 1–10). Shakespeare doubtless obtained all the suggestion that he needed from his fellow countrymen. That Shakespeare knew Watson’s reflections on the topic seems proved by his verbatim quotation of one of them in *Much Ado about Nothing* (i. 1. 271): ‘In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.’ Similarly there are plain indications in Shakespeare’s *Sonnets* that Fletcher’s *Licia* was familiar to him.¹ In Ovid, *Ars Amatoria*, i. 131 sq., Ulysses, for Calypso’s amusement, paints the like scene with a wand on the sand of the sea-shore and describes his sketch in terms very like those in the *Heroides*. But, although Ovid offered hints for Shakespeare’s picture, Vergil supplied the precise design. ¹ Cf. *Elixabethan Sonnets*, Introd. by the present writer, vol. i, p. lxxxiii, and vol. ii, p. 348; *Life of Shakespeare*, 5th edition, pp. 81 n. 2, 117 n. 2, and 229 n. 1. C <!-- [Page 157](arke:01KG6QCD0656RQE8487JG8ZQMH) --> 18 LUCRECE

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The appeal to personified Opportunity (ll. 869 sq.) seems an original device of Shakespeare, but the succeeding apostrophe to Time (ll. 939 sq.) covers ground which many poets had occupied before.