The Shakespeare Folio Portrait Verse

This verse referring to the portrait of Shakespeare is printed on the very first page of the Shakespeare Folio, preceding the title page on which the portrait is printed. It is signed 'B.I.', which is assumed to be the initials of Ben Jonson.

The whole verse is enigmatic and cryptic. In some places there are two possible and contrary meanings. The third and fourth lines provide a powerful example of this. These lines tell us that the 'Graver' (i.e. engraver) 'had a strife to out-do the life'. To 'out-do' is the same as 'do-out' and means to do away with, or get rid of something, and that something is the life. That is to say, the poet is telling us that the engraver strove hard to make the portrait of Shakespeare lifeless. Why?

To do this is completely contrary to what an artist normally tried to do. In the pre-modernist periods an artist tried his or her best to create a portrait that was as alive as possible and near as life as possible. But not in this case, the poet tells us.

If we look at the portrait, this statement is seen to be absolutely true: the face indeed looks lifeless. In fact, it looks like a mask. Why? What is this telling us?

To make doubly-sure that we get the cryptic meaning, the poet goes on to say, 'O, could he but have drawn his wit as well in brass as he hath hit his face'. 'Hit' might be taken to refer to hitting the brass plate with a hammer and sharp instrument, but in actual fact 'hit' is the old-fashioned past-participle of 'to hide'. The poet is therefore actually saying, 'O, could he but have drawn his wit as well in brass as he hath hid his face'.

The only place in the country that made engraved brass plates for printing at the time the Shakespeare Folio was printed was the wireworks at Tintern, on the River Wye. The wireworks was co-owned by Francis Bacon, titled at that time as Baron Verulam and Viscount St Alban, Robert Sidney, titled then as Viscount Lisle and Earl of Leicester, and William Herbert, titled then as third Earl of Pembroke. It was to the latter (with his brother) that the Shakespeare Folio was dedicated.

Besides brass plates used for engraving pictures for printing such as the Folio portrait of Shakespeare, brass was used for casts of statues and architectural features such as columns, because of its hardness and durability. The most famous examples are the two great pillars cast in brass by Hiram Abiff for the entrance to King Solomon's Temple. They were accounted a wonder of the world at the time. They were called Boaz and Iachin, and are referred to in Cabala, Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism by their initials, 'B.I.', the signature at the end of the Portrait Verse.

Peter Dawkins, 2006; rev. 2011

(See the author's book, The Shakespeare Enigma)

The Francis Bacon Research Trust