Shall we begin with erotesis? That’s the sort of question that really isn’t a question at all. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” asked Shakespeare, and did not wait for a reply. Fun as it may be to imagine him sending the first line of that sonnet off to his beloved and, a couple of days later, getting the answer, “Go ahead,” I don’t think that’s what happened. The line could just as easily be: “I shall compare thee to a summer’s day.
