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Shakespeare�s sonnets are indisputably the most enigmatic and enduring love poems written in English. They also may be the most often argued-over sequence of love poems in any language to date. But what is it that continues to elude us? While it is in part the spellbinding incantations, the hide-and-seek of sound and meaning, it is also the mystery of the noble youth to whom he makes a promise�the promise that he will survive in the breath and speech and minds of all of those who ever read these sonnets. �How can such promises be fulfilled if no name is actually given?� Scarry asks, and this book is the answer. Naming Thy Name lays bare William Shakespeare�s devotion to a beloved whom he not only names but names repeatedly in a love affair immortalized in the microtexture of the sonnets, in their overarching architecture, and in their deep fabric. By naming his name, Scarry enables us to hear clearly a lover�s call and the beloved�s response for the very first time. Here, over the course of many poems, are two poets in conversation, in love, speaking and listening, writing and writing back. In a true work of alchemy, Elaine Scarry, one of America�s most innovative and passionate thinkers, brilliantly synthesizes textual analysis, literary criticism, and historiography in pursuit of the haunting call and recall of Shakespeare�s verse, and that of his (now at last named) beloved friend.