What does Holofernes deer epitaph from Love's Labour's Lost mean?

Question

I find it a bit hard to understand this epitaph of the deer in *Love's Labour's Lost*. > The preyful princess pierced and prick'd a pretty pleasing pricket; > Some say a sore; but not a sore, till now made sore with shooting. > The dogs did yell: put L to sore, then sorel jumps from thicket; > Or pricket sore, or else sorel; the people fall a-hooting. > If sore be sore, then L to sore makes fifty sores one sorel. > Of one sore I an hundred make by adding but one more L. I get only the following wordplay but not enough for the whole thing: *sorel = young deer* *pricket = young deer* *L (in the last line) = roman numeral for fifty.* What do the following mean? - sore (second line first half), - L to sore (third line), - whole fifth line - sore (last line),

Answer 1

1. The sore in the first half of the second line refers to a deer that is at least four years old.
2. L to sore in the third line has two meanings. One meaning was that the dogs were literally making a yelling sound to alert the hunters of the deer. L, or ell, is also an old measurement of length that also refers to male genitalia.
3. Whole last line: By adding an extra "L" to sorrel, Holofernes is adding fifty more deer to the fifty deer from the previous line, thus making "...an hundred make by adding but one more 'L'".

Holofernes' epitaph is supposed to be in memory of the fallen deer. The character of Holofernes is a caricature of pompous intellects that use flowery words and phrases to make them seem smarter than they are. Holofernes, in attempting to sound intelligent, but comes off as crass when (intentionally or not) making sexual innuendos throughout the speech.