why are some s's written as f's and some not in shakespeare sonnets also who is the tenth muse?

Answer 1

There are two forms of lower-case S used in that kind of typesetting. The long S is used in mid-word but never as the first or last character of a word. If there is a double 's' in a word, the first is a long 's' and the second is a short one.

When this was done, sometimes the long and short 's' would be ligatured together, to become one character. That's where the German esszet comes from; the thing that looks like a beta. This is how 'Strasse' becomes 'StraBe' - the interim state is 'Strafse'

Answer 2

Here's a link to an article that explains who the nine Muses are and how the phrase "tenth Muse" has been used in reference to poetry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse

Answer 3

They are not fs just the so-called long S, used for initial and middle s. The 10th muse was a nickname of Sappho the Lesbian (in both senses) poetess.

Answer 4

I don't know who the tenth muse is and the first guy answered the question about the esses and the effs...but I DO know who the dark lady is, I know who the rival poet is, and I know who he was writing to