Even though the average life expectancy of Elizabethans was short, being between 26 and 39 was not considered old. [138], Against the Oxford theory are several references to Shakespeare, later than 1604, which imply that the author was then still alive. [177] Looney also notes that in Richard III, when the future Henry VII appears, the same Earl of Oxford is "by his side; and it is Oxford who, as premier nobleman, replies first to the king's address to his followers". [40] Several other contemporary authors refer to Oxford as an openly acknowledged poet, and Puttenham himself quotes one of Oxford's verses elsewhere in the book, referring to him by name as the author:[41]. Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare. Oxfordian William Farina refers to Shakespeare's apparent knowledge of the Jewish ghetto, Venetian architecture and laws in The Merchant of Venice, especially the city's "notorious Alien Statute". Thy love is better than high birth to me, Niederkorn, William S. "A Historic Whodunit: If Shakespeare Didn't, Who Did?". To Anderson, Peck's description suggests that this conceit is "arguably an early draft of Twelfth Night."[130]. Robert Detobel and K.C. He cites, by contrast, "testimony of contemporary writers, court records and much else" supporting Shakespeare's authorship. Live ever you, at least in Fame live ever: [106] By 1598, they were so famous, London poet and sonneteer Richard Barnefield wrote: Shakespeare..... [citation needed] In either case, Oxford nor anyone is identified as a hidden writer or one that used a pseudonym. In 1609, a volume of 154 linked poems was published under the title SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS. In a letter written by Looney in 1933, he mentions that Allen and Ward were "advancing certain views respecting Oxford and Queen Eliz. [144], The claim that the works of Shakespeare were in fact written by someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon dates back to the mid-nineteenth century. The play shares premise, basic plot, and many details of the Sea Venture's wrecking and the adventures of the survivors, as well as specific details and linguistics. "Shakespeare Revealed in Oxford's Poetry." "[78] Scott McCrea describes the setting as "a nonrealistic Venice" and the laws invoked by Portia as part of the "imaginary world of the play", inconsistent with actual legal practice. The earth can yield me but a common grave’ They further argue his list is of poets only and he did not include playwrights, neglecting for example Christopher Marlow. Two accounts were published: Sylvester Jordain's A Discovery of the Barmvdas, Otherwise Called the Ile of Divels, in October, 1610, and A True Declaration of the Estate of the Colonie in Virginia a month later. Proudfoot, Richard; Thompson, Ann; Kastan, David Scott, eds. The Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship contends that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare. However, Don Foster, in his study of Early Modern uses of the phrase "ever-living", argues that the phrase most frequently refers to God or other supernatural beings, suggesting that the dedication calls upon God to bless the living begetter (writer) of the sonnets. In 1921, Sir George Greenwood, Looney, and others founded The Shakespeare Fellowship, an organization originally dedicated to the discussion and promotion of ecumenical anti-Stratfordian views, but which later became devoted to promoting Oxford as the true Shakespeare. Letter from Oxford to Burghley, 24 September 1575. Looney also introduced the argument that the reference to the "ever living poet" in the 1609 dedication to Shakespeare's sonnets implied that the author was dead at the time of publication.[148]. [70] In addition, the majority of 18th and 19th century scholars, including notables such as Samuel Johnson, Lewis Theobald, George Steevens, Edmond Malone, and James Halliwell-Phillipps, placed the composition ofHenry VIII prior to 1604. Detailed study of the play from an Oxfordian point of view dates from Eva Turner Clark's 1933 study,[62] which sought to identify a number of characters in the play with various historical prototypes, among them Henry, King of Navarre (Ferdinand, King of Navarre), Marechal di Biron (Biron), Henri I d'Orléans, duc de Longueville, Governor of Picardie (Longaville), and Duc du Maine (Dumain). He tells his muse to "rest and sleep" because otherwise the poem will stray into territory already written about by Shakespeare in Venus and Adonis. The Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship contends that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare. [107] Critics of this view argue that Oxford nor any other writer is not here identified as a concealed writer, but as the first in a list of known modern writers whose works have already been "made public", "of which number is first" Oxford, adding to the publicly acknowledged literary tradition dating back to Geoffrey Chaucer. Arguments against Oxford's authorship by Irvin Leigh Matus. Several surviving references indicate that a Hamlet-like play was well-known throughout the 1590s, well before the traditional period of composition (1599–1601). The theory that Shakespeare was written by a collective of “high-born wits … Anti-Stratfordian scholars that hold to the “Oxfordian Theory of Shakespeare Authorship” believe that we've been “played” by a very talented, stealth Elizabethan courtier named Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. [40] In his later writings Percy Allen argued that Oxford led a group of writers, among whom was William Shakespeare. De Vere was the 17th Earl of Oxford. In 1852, James Halliwell-Phillipps discovered a volume, "Anne Cornwaleys her booke," apparently the day book of Cornwallis’ daughter Anne, which Halliwell-Phillipps believed was written sometime in 1595. Oxfordian arguments rely heavily on biographical allusions; adherents find correspondences between incidents and circumstances in Oxford's life and events in Shakespeare's plays, sonnets and longer poems. The news of the survival of the Sea Venture's passengers and crew caused a great sensation in England. Their son, Charlton Ogburn junior, agreed with Looney that the theory was an impediment to the Oxfordian movement and omitted all discussion about it in his own Oxfordian works. [145] The Oxford theory was first proposed by J. Thomas Looney in his 1920 book Shakespeare Identified in Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford[146] Following earlier anti-Stratfordians, Looney argued that the known facts of Shakespeare's life did not fit the personality he ascribed to the author of the plays. Early Oxfordians found many references to Oxford's family name "Vere" in the plays and poems, in supposed puns on words such as "ever" (E. Vere). First, Oxford's known works are those of a young man and as such should be considered juvenilia. Oxford is not known to have been mentioned again in this context. Stephen May, a leading authority on Oxford's poetry, attributes sixteen poems definitely and four possibly to Oxford, noting that these are probably "only a good sampling" as "both Webbe (1586) and Puttenham (1589) rank him first among the courtier poets, an eminence he probably would not have been granted, despite his reputation as a patron, by virtue of a mere handful of lyrics". [49], Oxford was noted for his literary and theatrical patronage, garnering dedications from a wide range of authors. [71] And in the 1969 and 1977 Pelican/Viking editions of Shakespeare’s plays, Alfred Harbage showed the composition of Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Pericles, King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra — all traditionally regarded as "late plays" — likely did not occur after 1604. Let alone have been invited to participate in the effort to encourage the match. Similarly, a 2009 article in the Oxfordian journal Brief Chronicles noted that Francis Meres, in Palladis Tamia compares 17 named English poets to 16 named classical poets. Traditional scholars say that the biographies of other contemporary figures, such as King James or the Earl of Essex, fit the play just as closely if not more so. I buy a rope!" Oxford had borrowed the name from a third Shakespeare, the man of that name from Stratford-upon-Avon, who was a law student at the time, but who was never an actor or a writer.[163]. May, Steven W. (1980b). Rare and most absolute; he had a face The poems Venus and Adonis and Lucrece, first published in 1593 and 1594 under the name "William Shakespeare", proved highly popular for several decades – with Venus and Adonis published six more times before 1616, while Lucrece required four additional printings during this same period. Looking at the cast list of “Anonymous,” which includes such Shakespearean powerhouses as Mark Rylance and Derek Jacobi, you might conclude that the Oxfordian theory … Allen developed the theory in his 1934 book Anne Cecil, Elizabeth & Oxford. Oxfordians believe these two passages, when linked, support their claim that Oxford was one of the most prominent "suppressed" writers of the day. Cousins, A. D. (2011), "Shakespeare's Sonnets", in Cousins, A. Vaughan, Virginia Mason; Vaughan, Alden T. (1999). [143], An equally simple argument is made by Columbia University professor James S. Shapiro, author of the book Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? [68] Ogburn wrote that the annuity was granted "under mysterious circumstances",[69] and Anderson suggests it was granted because of Oxford's writing patriotic plays for government propaganda. Posted on March 31, 2017 April 4, 2017 by politicworm Posted in Authorship Question, Birth of British Press, Earl of Oxford, English history, English Literary Renaissance, humanism, Oxfordian theory, political repression, Shakespeare Authorship, Sir Thomas Smith, the London Stage, Who wrote Shakespeare, William of Stratford Tagged anonymity, authorship question, Earl of Oxford, English history. [143] This plot was brought to light on 5 November 1605, a year after Oxford died. Sigmund Freud, the gothic horror novelist Marjorie Bowen, and several early 20th-century celebrities found the thesis persuasive,[151] and Oxford soon overtook Bacon as the favoured alternative candidate to Shakespeare of Stratford, though academic Shakespeareans mostly ridiculed or ignored the claims. At every turn, the Oxfordian theory provides logical, common-sense answers and clarity. The reason why there is a increasing interest… [44], There is a description of the figure of Oxford in The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois, a 1613 play by George Chapman, who has been suggested as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets. The Bible contains 1,028 instances of underlined words or passages and a few hand-written annotations, most of which consist of a single word or fragment. Thus much of Poetrie. "[202] Mainstream writers respond that several sonnets literally do tell his name, containing numerous puns on the name Will[iam]; in sonnet 136 the poet directly says "thou lov'st me for my name is Will."[203]. [72] The author of The Merchant of Venice, Looney believed, "knew Italy first hand and was touched with the life and spirit of the country". Sobran notes that the cypress tree was a symbol of mourning, and believes Barksted was specifically writing of Shakespeare in the past tense ("His song was worthy") — after Oxford's death in 1604, but prior to Shakespeare of Stratford's death in 1616. Unlike the Globe, the Blackfriars was an indoor playhouse" and so required plays with frequent breaks in order to replace the candles it used for lighting. Mowat and Werstine, eds. Early in the (20th) century some scholars sought to exclude such plays as Titus Andronicus … on the grounds that they were unworthy of Shakespeare. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, Titus Andronicus, William Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Sonnet 20, Romeo and Juliet, Kingdom of England, William Shakespeare, Laurence Olivier, Sigmund Freud, Twelfth Night, Martin Luther, Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Rhetoric, Isaac Newton, Philosophy of science, Pneumonia, Epistemology, Middlesex, Christianity, English people, Trinity College, Cambridge, Liverpool, Roman empire, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Oedipus, Critical approaches to Hamlet, United States. Looney expelled the play from the canon, arguing that its style and the "dreary negativism" it promoted were inconsistent with Shakespeare's "essentially positivist" soul, and so could not have been written by Oxford. [59][60][61], Shakespeare's native Avon and Stratford are referred to in two prefatory poems in the 1623 First Folio, one of which refers to Shakespeare as "Swan of Avon" and another to the author's "Stratford monument". The composition date of Hamlet has been a point of contention between scholars on both sides of the authorship question since the early 1900's. Pressly, William L.. "The Ashbourne Portrait of Shakespeare: Through the Looking Glass". Crinkley, Richmond (1985). Myself I’ll forfeit, so that other mine They say that this inferred profile fits the biography of the Earl of Oxford better than the documented biography of William Shakespeare. "Irvin Matus's. This argument had earlier been used by supporters of the Earl of Rutland and the Earl of Derby as authorship candidates, both of whom had also travelled on the continent of Europe. They argue that satirist John Marston's Scourge of Villanie (1598) contains further cryptic allusions to Oxford: .......Far fly thy fame, "Shakespeare film Anonymous has lost plot, says Stratford". Thy true judicial style Sad sighes with great annoy. Joseph Sobran, in Alias Shakespeare, argues that in 1607 William Barksted, a minor poet and playwright, implies in his poem "Mirrha the Mother of Adonis" that Shakespeare was already deceased. While a large majority of scholars reject all alternative candidates for authorship, popular interest in various authorship theories continues to grow,[1] particularly among independent scholars and theatre professionals. WCU English: "Dating The Tempest: The Authorship Debate", by Brian Flynn. This is because "It would not do to have a performance of one of his plays at Court greeted with ill-suppressed knowing chuckles. [131] It is, according to David Bevington, a 'virtually unanimous' opinion among teachers and scholars of Shakespeare that the canon of late plays depicts an artistic journey that extends well beyond 1604, the date of de Vere's death. [139] Mainstream critics further claim that if William Shakespeare of Stratford did not write the plays and poems, the number of people needed to suppress this information would have made their attempts highly unlikely to succeed. [73], Because Shakespeare of Stratford lived until 1616, Oxfordians question why, if he were the author, did he not eulogize Queen Elizabeth at her death in 1603 or Henry, Prince of Wales, at his in 1612. "Early Courtier Verse: Oxford, Dyer, and Gascoigne". Looney declared that the late play The Tempest was not written by Oxford, and that others performed or published after Oxford's death were most probably left incomplete and finished by other writers, thus explaining the apparent idiosyncrasies of style found in the late Shakespeare plays. Similarly, by 1589 nothing by Greville was in print, and only one of Walter Raleigh's works had been published. [135], Stratfordians also stress that any supposedly special knowledge of the aristocracy appearing in the plays can be more easily explained by Shakespeare of Stratford's life-time of performances before nobility and royalty,[136][137] and possibly, as Gibson theorizes, "by visits to his patron's house, as Marlowe visited Walsingham. Shakespeare had multiple contacts to the circle of people amongst whom the letter circled, including to Strachey. There are three principal pieces of evidence praising Oxford as a poet and a playwright: (1) The anonymous 1589 Arte of English Poesie, usually attributed to George Puttenham, contains a chapter describing the practice of concealed publication by court figures, which includes a passage listing Oxford as the finest writer of comedy: for Tragedie, the Lord of Buckhurst, & Maister Edward Ferrys for such doings as I haue sene of theirs do deserue the hyest price:Th'Earle of Oxford and Maister Edwardes of her Maiesties Chappell for Comedy and Enterlude. Longish! In a striking parallel, on Oxford's return from Europe across the, Shakespearean scholar David Haley notes that in order to have written, Oxfordian theory is central to the plot of, The Oxfordian theory, among others, is discussed in Jennifer Lee Carrell's 2007 thriller, Derbyite theory of Shakespearean authorship, Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship. 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