[Peace-discuss] Re: [Peace] Watch AOTA when the hurlyburly's done...

[C. G. Estabrook]

There's been a lot written recently by those who think that "WILL 
SHAKE-SPEAR" was a pseudonym (as well as a bawdy pun: see Sonnets 135 & 
136).  There aren't (m)any other examples of 16th-century English names' 
being hyphenated like that, for one thing (and Shakespeare loved a pun).

The best candidate for the authorship of the Shakespearean canon seems 
to be Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604). A good recent 
book on the subject is "Shakespeare by Another Name" (2005), by Mark 
Anderson.  (See his website & blog at 
<http://shakespearebyanothername.com/index.html>.)

If this admittedly largely pointless inquiry (like sports or politics) 
interests you, see the argument at 
<http://www.authorshipstudies.org/articles/oxford_shakespeare.cfm>. And 
there are good articles on the subject on Wikipedia. --CGE


John W. wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 11:03 AM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu> wrote:
> 
> We're both right (rare as that is)...
> 
> 
> I don't get it.  Did Edward de Vere plagiarize Shakespeare, then?  Wouldn't
> that have been kind of difficult to GET AWAY WITH?
> 
> 
> 
>> John W. wrote:
> 
> 
>>  On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 9:11 PM, C. G. Estabrook <galliher at uiuc.edu<mailto:
>>> galliher at uiuc.edu>> wrote:
>>>
>>>           A CONCLUDING COMMENT ON THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
>>>           (from sixteenth-century poet Edward de Vere)
>>>
>>>           You do look, my son, in a moved sort,
>>>           As if you were dismayed: be cheerful, sir.
>>>           Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
>>>           As I foretold you, were all spirits and
>>>           Are melted into air, into thin air:
>>>           And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
>>>           The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
>>>           The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
>>>           Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
>>>           And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
>>>           Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
>>>           As dreams are made on, and our little life
>>>           Is rounded with a sleep...
>>>
>>>
>>> What an uneducated fool I am!  All these years I thought that these lines
>>> were spoken by Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest"!  :-(
>>>
>