DOCSLIB.ORG

Summer 2005 the Sonnets a Royal Shame Dedication the Origins and History of Puzzle (II) the Prince Tudor Theory

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Summer 2005 the Sonnets a Royal Shame Dedication the Origins and History of Puzzle (II) the Prince Tudor Theory Vol.4:no.4 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..." Summer 2005 The Sonnets A Royal Shame dedication The origins and history of puzzle (II) the Prince Tudor theory By Robert R. Prechter, Jr. ©2005 By Paul H. Altrocchi, MD t this point we have seen that the Pardon, sweete flower of matchless Poetrie dedication to Shake-speares Sonnets And fairest bud that red rose ever bore ... Aappears to contain some sort of de- Thomas Nashe, Dedication to Southampton1 liberate construct producing a puzzle with at least one solution, THOMAS THORPE, hose who conceived the Prince Tudor and probably another one, HENRY 2 WRIOTHESLEY. If there are other solu- theory, Percy Allen in England tions, then they should derive from the Tand Dorothy Ogburn in New York,3 same rules that produced the first one. The were justifiably eminent Oxfordians. Their rules governing the exercise that it took to theory was not triggered by incon- derive these two names appear to be that (1) trovertible evidence of a hidden Queen the letters in the solution appear in normal Elizabeth pregnancy or that the Third Earl sequence, (2) starting from any point, (3) of Southampton was a royal changeling. within a single expression of the text, (4) They derived it as a reasonable inter- also in normal sequence (not backwards, pretation of historical events and powerful for example). Furthermore, any deliberate embedding would have to pertain to the allusions in the Shakespeare canon, difficult to explain otherwise. context; even if we were able to derive, say, By kind permission of His Grace the Duke of Buccleuch and “Disney World” from the text, we could Queensbury, K.T. Shorn of all complexities, the Prince nevertheless be sure that it was simply an The Third Earl of Southampton in the Tower. Tudor theory is simply that Henry artifact, not an intended solution to the This is one of the more famous portraits of Wriothesley, the Third Earl of South- puzzle. Conversely, if an expression that we the Elizabethan era, especially so for anyone ampton, was the son of Queen Elizabeth think should pertain to the puzzle’s theme involved in Shakespeare studies since South- and Edward de Vere and therefore was is not there, then we must conclude either ampton is the dedicatee of Venus and Adonis rightful heir to the Tudor throne. The that the composer did not know about it or and Rape of Lucrece, and the putative “Fair designation “Prince Tudor” conveys the that our presumption is wrong. Youth” of the Sonnets. But for Oxfordians his concept more clearly than “Tudor Rose.”4 The next task was to use contemporary significance is doubly important, since he was scholarly opinion to make a list of what being pressured to marry Oxford’s eldest The Prince Tudor theory has been a other names might reasonably be related daughter Elizabeth, and because his identifica- source of contentious debate among to the Sonnets to test their appearance in tion by some Oxfordians as a possible “Prince Oxfordians, sometimes with more heat the puzzle. We must also test that list against Tudor” (with Oxford as his father) places him than luminosity. This is unfortunate because a list of names not considered to be related at the center of the entire Shakespeare author- of its vital implications for the Shakespeare to the Sonnets to compare their frequencies ship mystery. authorship debate: of occurrence. While it appears initially that we are bound by the discoveries of Editorial changes on the way (1) Many of Shakespeare’s Sonnets were previous scholarly research, that is not so. for Shakespeare Matters written to the Third Earl of The research can work both ways. If we Southampton in the loving terms of a decide that the puzzle is legitimate and its father to a son. If de Vere is method consistent, we can check every See page 3 Southampton’s father, de Vere is (Continued on page 18) (Continued on page 12) page 2 Shakespeare Matters Summer 2005 plained words “THE FORTH,” and the out- To the Editor: Letters: of-place letters “WH” in the 8 x 18 array. However, the proposed solution in Figure It is quite common for a person who has To the Editor, 3 doesn’t work. The fourth line is shorter discovered a “system,” or formed a than the third, meaning that the key en- hypothesis, that appears to have Congratulations to Robert Prechter for coded into this shortened, “original” dedi- explanatory power to overextend that his brilliant breakthrough in our under- cation is 4-2-2-4, not 6-2-4. system’s use or application, in the belief standing of the dedication to Shake- In my view, what accounts for the awk- that he has found “the” answer. speares Sonnets, and its connections to ward syntax is not the involvement of two This effect is too prevalent among (1) the poem by “T. T.” in Richard Barn- cryptograhpers, a good one who designed Oxfordians, among whom it occurs in both field’s “Cynthia,” and (2) the inscription on the “original” dedication, and a bad one general and particular forms. One of the the Stratford monument (Shakespeare who added on the final eight words. Rather, particular forms is the attempt to Matters, Spring 2005). As someone who it is the difficulty of encoding so many was convinced that John Rollett was on the different messages, in different ways, and demonstrate parallels between Oxford’s right track when he first proposed his getting all of them to come out perfectly, vocabulary and usages and those of the solution back in 1997, and spent years including a cover text that would arouse Shakespeare Canon. Surely it is of interest trying to prove it, I am in a better position just enough suspicion to be discovered when unique words or phrases are used by than most to appreciate the difficulty, and and deciphered eventually, but not so much both, but not by others, or when both use magnitude, of Prechter’s achievement. The suspicion that it would be obvious to the more ordinary words and phrases in the combination of these three discoveries casual reader. same peculiar way. But having identified surely amounts to “smoking gun” evidence Also, I cannot believe it would have these, too many Oxfordians then fall off the for Edward de Vere as Shakespeare. been acceptable to leave the two addi- edge of credibility by thinking that all Prechter’s discovery of the name tional words, “THE FORTH,” hanging at parallels are important, even when the “Henry Wriothesley” arranged as a “puzzle” the end of the message “THESE SONNETS usages are common or within the ordinary in the dedication is wholly convincing. ALL BY EVER,” looking for all the world senses of words. The use of the word “and” (“y” in Spanish) like they were supposed to mean some- This tendency, I feel, is an to supply the second “y” necessary to com- thing, unless they do. The fact that “FORTH” embarrassment to the Oxfordian project. plete the name is very unlikely to have is also the final word in the dedication is too Hank Whittemore’s book, The Monument, occurred by chance. Nevertheless, the or- much of a coincidence for me. Those words falls into this particular trap, and into the thodox would dispute this discovery as have meaning. We just haven’t figured it out. more general trap of overextension. This is being due to chance had Prechter not also quite unfortunate, because he has indeed discovered another example, apparently John Shahan Glendale, California formulated an insightful, interesting and also of Thomas Thorpe, employing the important hypothesis to explain the same method to conceal the names of 25 July 2005 Thorpe and Edward de Vere in “Cynthia.” The way the two names appear repeatedly, Shakespeare Matters Subscriptions to Shakespeare Matters are in patterns that could hardly be due to chance, Published quarterly by the $40 per year ($20 for online issues only). powerfully confirms the other discovery. The Shakespeare Fellowship Family or institution subscriptions are $45 per As if this were not enough, Prechter year. Patrons of the Fellowship are $75 and up. provides us with an encore. His discovery Editorial Offices Send subscription requests to: P.O. Box 263 that the name Edward de Vere appears The Shakespeare Fellowship Somerville, MA 02143 twice in the inscription to the Stratford P.O. Box 434 Marshfield MA 02051 monument, embedded via the same Editor: method, and also displaying a clear pat- William Boyle The purpose of the Shakespeare Fellowship tern, is the icing on the cake. Can there be is to promote public awareness and acceptance any doubt that the end of the authorship Contributing Editors: of the authorship of the Shakespeare Canon by controversy is now in sight, and that Ed- Mark Anderson, Dr. Charles Berney, Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550- ward de Vere will finally get his due? Charles Boyle, Dr. Felicia Londre, 1604), and further to encourage a high level of Lynne Kositsky, Alex McNeil, scholarly research and publication into all I have just one point of disagreement Dr. Anne Pluto, Elisabeth Sears, aspects of Shakespeare studies, and also into the with Prechter, which in no way detracts Dr. Roger Stritmatter, Richard Whalen, history and culture of the Elizabethan era. from the magnitude of his achievement. I Hank Whittemore, Dr. Daniel L. Wright The Society was founded and incorporated cannot agree with his proposal for an “origi- in 2001 in the State of Massachusetts and is nal” and an “appended” text in the dedica- Phone (Somerville, MA): (617) 628-3411 chartered under the membership corporation laws of that state.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Dark Lady of the Merchant of Venice
    3 The dark lady of The Merchant of Venice ‘The Sonnets of Shakespeare offer us the greatest puzzle in the history of English literature.’ So began the voyage of Alfred Leslie Rowse (1903–97) through the murky waters cloaking the identi- ties of four persons associated with the publication in 1609 of Shakespeare’s ‘sugared sonnets’: the enigmatic ‘Mr. W.H.’ cited in the forepages as ‘onlie begetter’ of the poems; the unnamed ‘fair youth’ addressed in sonnets 1–126; the ‘rival poet’ who surfaces and submerges in sonnets 78–86; and the mysterious ‘dark lady’ celebrated and castigated in sonnets 127–52.1 Doubtless, even as Thomas Thorpe’s edition was passing through George Eld’s press, London’s mice-eyed must have begun their search for the shadowy four; it has not slacked since. As to those nominated as ‘Mr. W.H.’, the list ranges from William Herbert to Henry Wroithesley (with initials reversed) to William Harvey (Wroithesley’s stepfather). In 1964 Leslie Hotson proposed one William Hatcliffe of Lincolnshire [!], while Thomas Tyrwitt, Edmond Malone, and Oscar Wilde all favoured a (fictional) boy actor, Willie Hughes. Among candidates for the ‘fair youth’, Henry Wroithesley, Earl of Southampton (1573–1624), appears to have outlasted all comers. Those proposed as the rival poet include Christopher Marlowe (more interested in boys than ladies dark or light); Samuel Daniel (Herbert’s sometime tutor);2 Michael Drayton, drinking partner of Jonson and Shakespeare; George Chapman, whose Seaven Bookes of the Iliades (1598) were a source for Troilus and Cressida; and Barnabe Barnes, lampooned by Nashe as ‘Barnaby Bright’ in Have with you to Saffron-Walden.
    [Show full text]
  • The Original Lists of Persons of Quality, Emigrants, Religious Exiles, Political
    Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924096785278 In compliance with current copyright law, Cornell University Library produced this replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. 2003 H^^r-h- CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE : ; rigmal ^ist0 OF PERSONS OF QUALITY; EMIGRANTS ; RELIGIOUS EXILES ; POLITICAL REBELS SERVING MEN SOLD FOR A TERM OF YEARS ; APPRENTICES CHILDREN STOLEN; MAIDENS PRESSED; AND OTHERS WHO WENT FROM GREAT BRITAIN TO THE AMERICAN PLANTATIONS 1600- I 700. WITH THEIR AGES, THE LOCALITIES WHERE THEY FORMERLY LIVED IN THE MOTHER COUNTRY, THE NAMES OF THE SHIPS IN WHICH THEY EMBARKED, AND OTHER INTERESTING PARTICULARS. FROM MSS. PRESERVED IN THE STATE PAPER DEPARTMENT OF HER MAJESTY'S PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, ENGLAND. EDITED BY JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN. L n D n CHATTO AND WINDUS, PUBLISHERS. 1874, THE ORIGINAL LISTS. 1o ihi ^zmhcxs of the GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL SOCIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THIS COLLECTION OF THE NAMES OF THE EMIGRANT ANCESTORS OF MANY THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN FAMILIES, IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED PY THE EDITOR, JOHN CAMDEN HOTTEN. CONTENTS. Register of the Names of all the Passengers from London during One Whole Year, ending Christmas, 1635 33, HS 1 the Ship Bonavatture via CONTENTS. In the Ship Defence.. E. Bostocke, Master 89, 91, 98, 99, 100, loi, 105, lo6 Blessing .
    [Show full text]
  • Fall 2005 Shakespeare Matters Page 1
    Fall 2005 Shakespeare Matters page 1 5:1 "Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments..." Fall 2005 Falstaff in the Low Countries By Robert Detobel n his book Monstrous Adversary1 Prof. Alan Nelson has Oxford boast of his par ticipation in the battle of Bommel dur- Iing his visit to the Low Countries in the summer 1574. Nelson’s statement, my article shows, results from a double error. First he has failed to note the basic difference which existed between a battle and a siege in the Low Countries since 1573; second, and more James Newcomb, Fellowship member and Oregon Shakespeare Festival leading man, importantly, Nelson did not perceive (per- with Mark Anderson (right), winner of the 2005 Oxfordian of the Year Award. Newcomb haps because he did not want to) that Oxford’s stars this OSF season as a wickedly energetic Richard III. tale about his great feats was a Baron Münchhausen’s tall tale and was clearly so intended. More properly spoken it was a OSF, SF, and SOS Join Forces in “Falstaffiade, ” as will appear in the second part in which we observe the similarities between Oxford’s tale and Falstaff’s tales. Historic Conference (Continued on page 4) By Howard Schumann he first ever jointly sponsored conference of The Shakespeare Fellowship and The Shakespeare Oxford Society was a “breakthrough” and an important step in piercing the “bastion of orthodoxy” regarding the Shakespeare Tauthorship issue, according to James Newcomb, the Oregon ShakespeareFestival (OSF) actor who portrayed the villainous King Richard in the OSF’s magnificent production of Richard III.
    [Show full text]
  • Rrhe Sha Speare 9\Fiws{Etter
    rrheSha�speare 9\fiws{etter Vo I.38:No.3 "What llewsfi'olll Oxford? Do thesejllsts alld triUlllphs hold?" Richard II 5.2 Summer 2002 Stylometrics and the This Strange Eventful History Funeral ElegyAffair Oxford, Shakespeare, and The Seven Ages of Man By Robert Brazil and Wayne Shore By Christopher Paul tylometrics refers to a growing body of "All the world's a stage" begins one of miseries of human life in much the same S techniques for analyzing written the most famous of Shakespeare's manner as Jaques, in a book which names material assisted by numerical analysis. monologues, the "Seven Ages of Man" the Earl of Oxford on the title page. Stylometrics has been applied in making speech voiced by the acerbic courtier Let us first begin with a briefoverview and refuting attributions of authorship. Jaques in As YO liLike It, Act 2, scene 7. of the origins ofJaques' speech. [Printed Comparative study ofEliza bethan texts As Jaques continues, he dryly and in full on page 15.] The iconography of began after concordances of Shakespeare entertainingly catalogs the ages, the Ages of Man was quite diverse, and his contemporaries were widely beginning with the mew ling infant, often evidencing conflation with the published in the early 20th Century. But it fo llowed by the whining school-boy, Ages of the World, the planets, the wasnot until the advent ofhome computing the sighing lover, the quarreling Deadly Sins, the days of the week, the that these databases could be effectively soldier, the prosing justice, the seasons, Fortune's Wheel, the compared with each other.
    [Show full text]
  • Bulletin 396 September 2006
    Registered Charity No: 272098 ISSN 0585-9980 SURREY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY CASTLE ARCH, GUILDFORD GUI 3SX Tel/ Fax: 01483 532454 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.surreyarohaeology.org.uk Bulletin 396 September 2006 STONE AGE SUMMER: Piers Chandler showing how to stretch leather WOLVES, FLINTS AND FUR Best-selling author Michelle Paver visits Surrey History Centre Visitors to the Surrey History Centre travelled back in time 6000 years on Saturday 22nd July when Stone Age Summer was launched in spectacular style with best selling children's author Michelle Paver. She dropped in to talk about her books, Wolf Brother and Spirit Walker, which d e s c r i b e t h e a d v e n t u r e s o f To r a k , a y o u n g S t o n e A g e b o y, h i s w o l f companion and their fight for survival. Michelle described how she travelled to Greenland to live with the Inuit, and to t h e f r o z e n f o r e s t s o f F i n l a n d t o scavenge for food to research her stories. She told an avid audience that although the Stone Age had been a childhood passion of hers, it had taken a near death experience with a Canadian bear to make her change careers as a top lawyer to become a full time writer. Perhaps that's why the bear in Wolf Allan Course, Michelle Paver and Piers S r o f h e r i s s o m e n a c i n g i C h a n d l e r To help create a Stone Age feel on the day, Michelle was joined by flint knapper Allan Course, and leather worker Piers Chandler.
    [Show full text]
  • Robert Wait (Alias Wayte) Rachel (Daniels Or Ford)
    Robert Wait (alias Wayte) 1695 - 1755 Farmer of Rangeworthy and Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, and of Norton Malreward in Somerset AND HIS FIRST WIFE Rachel (Daniels or Ford) ? - 1747 by Geoffrey Audcent © 2014, Mendip Road, Yatton, North Somerset William Wait (1669-1754) Farmer of Castle Combe Robert Wait (1695-1755) Farmer of Rangeworthy and Norton Malreward Abstract – Robert Wait was born and baptised at Castle Combe in Wiltshire in 1695 (os). He was a successful farmer at Rangeworthy and Iron Acton (where he was the tenant of Acton House Farm) in Gloucestershire, before moving to northern Somerset in 1744, where he took over a large farm at Norton Malreward. Robert had nine children by his first wife. She was an early Methodist and travelled to Kingswood every Sunday to hear the Methodist ministers who preached there. Following her death in 1747 Robert remarried and had one further child. In 1749 Robert made a will, describing himself as a farmer of the parish of Norton Maleward, in good health and in perfect mind and memory “thanks be given to God therefore”. Robert died in 1755 and was buried at Norton Malreward. His will was proved in London at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury in July 1755 with administration of all goods, chattels and credits granted to his eldest son. Robert Wait (alias Wayte) 1695 - 1755 Farmer of Rangeworthy and Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, and of Norton Malreward in Somerset AND HIS FIRST WIFE Rachel (Daniels or Ford) ? - 1747 Six-Times-Great-Grandparents to Mrs Sandra Audcent (nee Russell) Robert Waite was born on 19 January 1695 at Castle Combe in Wiltshire (the “prettiest village in England”).1 He was baptised there in the parish church of St.
    [Show full text]
  • 2019- 2020 December
    Recent books and articles added to the Library stock arranged by subject; December 2019 to March 2020 Archaeology Council for British Archaeology February 2020 Communication and participation in archaeology survey 2020: the results! Obituaries British Archaeology 171, 2020 Requiem, compiled by Mike Pitts, 52--55 (includes John Hampton, vice-president of Surrey Archaeological Society who died in October 2019 aged 97) Egham-by-Runnymede Historical Society Newsletter 555, 2020 Donald (Don) Mummery – an appreciation, by Richard Williams, 5 (Obituary: lived in Englefield Green) Medieval Pottery Research Group Newsletter 83, 2016 Phil Jones, by Lorraine Mepham, 1 (obituary) Surrey Archaeological Society Bulletin 477, 2019 John Hampton OBE FSA, by David Bird, 21--2 (obituary) Biographies Around & About Horsley 247, 2019 Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe at Woodcote Lodge, by June Davey, 21--5 (Surrey People; 1890s) Egham-by-Runnymede Historical Society Newsletter 557, 2020 A brief history of Albert Buske, by his granddaughter Carole Spurdon, 4--5 (born in 1877 and resident in Englefield Green) Farnham & District Museum Society Journal 19.1, 2020 A Farnham character – George Baxter, by Cyril Trust, 12--13 (20th century) Gardens Trust News 11, 2019 Mavis Batey and Oxford, by David Lambert, 17--19 (lived in Farnham in 1950s and was part of the campaign to save Painshill Park) Kenley Common Newsletter February, 2020 Paul Farnes DFM, AE (16th July, 1918 – 28th January, 2020), by David Meanwell, 2 and insert 1, (oral history transcript) Leatherhead & District
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright 2011 Tara Lynn Lyons
    Copyright 2011 Tara Lynn Lyons ENGLISH PRINTED DRAMA IN COLLECTION BEFORE JONSON AND SHAKESPEARE BY TARA LYNN LYONS DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2011 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Emerita Professor Carol T. Neely, Chair Associate Professor Zachary L. Lesser, University of Pennsylvania Associate Professor Lori Humphrey Newcomb Professor Curtis Perry Abstract Benjamin Jonson’s Works (1616) and William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies (1623) overwhelmingly dominate studies of the English drama collection. This critical focus has revealed much of what we know about the collection as a format for dramatic texts in early modern England, but it has also concealed aspects of the format’s history. Scholars regularly assume that the Jonson and Shakespeare Folios were the first in England to gather dramatic texts in collections; others often treat the volumes as paradigms for how drama collections looked, functioned, and signified. By examining collections printed or compiled from approximately 1512 to 1623, “English Printed Drama in Collection Before Jonson and Shakespeare” offers a new conceptualization of the collection. This dissertation discovers that drama appeared in multiple collected formats other than large folio volumes and was organized around a diversity of principles of collection other than (and in addition to) “the author.” For example, drama was presented in ten-play quarto editions supporting humanist pedagogical agendas, reader-compiled octavo miscellanies created for political persuasion, and serially published sets celebrating the English church and crown. This diversity of collected forms was constructed through different material processes to support the financial and/or ideological aims of various agents, including printers, publishers, booksellers, editors, and readers.
    [Show full text]
  • On Shaving: Barbershop Violence in American Literature Ben Yadon
    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 On Shaving: Barbershop Violence in American Literature Ben Yadon Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ON SHAVING: BARBERSHOP VIOLENCE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE By BEN YADON A Thesis submitted to the Program in American & Florida Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008 The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Ben Yadon defended on March 24, 2008 Dennis Moore Professor Directing Thesis John Fenstermaker Committee Member Timothy Parrish Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been possible without the support of my family and friends. I would like to thank my Committee Chair Dennis Moore for shepherding this project through to a successful conclusion and for the thoughtful attention and invaluable criticisms he has provided me throughout the composition process. John Fenstermaker will forever have my sincerest gratitude for all he has done for me as mentor, teacher, committee member, employer, and friend. Thanks to Tim Parrish for lending his expertise as a member of my Committee. A special thanks to Cheryl Herr for the kind words and sophisticated example she provided me. Bruce Bickley’s wholehearted enthusiasm for my thesis and his exemplary model of scholarly generosity will not soon be forgotten. Thanks also to Carl Eby for showing interest in the project and offering encouragement.
    [Show full text]
  • Redating Pericles: a Re-Examination of Shakespeare’S
    REDATING PERICLES: A RE-EXAMINATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S PERICLES AS AN ELIZABETHAN PLAY A THESIS IN Theatre Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS by Michelle Elaine Stelting University of Missouri Kansas City December 2015 © 2015 MICHELLE ELAINE STELTING ALL RIGHTS RESERVED REDATING PERICLES: A RE-EXAMINATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S PERICLES AS AN ELIZABETHAN PLAY Michelle Elaine Stelting, Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2015 ABSTRACT Pericles's apparent inferiority to Shakespeare’s mature works raises many questions for scholars. Was Shakespeare collaborating with an inferior playwright or playwrights? Did he allow so many corrupt printed versions of his works after 1604 out of indifference? Re-dating Pericles from the Jacobean to the Elizabethan era answers these questions and reveals previously unexamined connections between topical references in Pericles and events and personalities in the court of Elizabeth I: John Dee, Philip Sidney, Edward de Vere, and many others. The tournament impresas, alchemical symbolism of the story, and its lunar and astronomical imagery suggest Pericles was written long before 1608. Finally, Shakespeare’s focus on father-daughter relationships, and the importance of Marina, the daughter, as the heroine of the story, point to Pericles as written for a young girl. This thesis uses topical references, Shakespeare’s anachronisms, Shakespeare’s sources, stylometry and textual analysis, as well as Henslowe’s diary, the Stationers' Register, and other contemporary documentary evidence to determine whether there may have been versions of Pericles circulating before the accepted date of 1608.
    [Show full text]
  • More Recent Publications in Oxfordian Studies the Secret Love Story in Shakespeare's Sonnets, by Helen Heightsman
    More Recent Publications in Oxfordian Studies Helen Heightsman Gordon. The Secret Love Story in Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Xlibris Corp., 2005. 158p. Oxford’s Letters: The Letters of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford. CD set. Read by Derek Jacobi. Narr. Joan Walker. London: Absolute Audio, 2006. AA003. William Farina. De Vere as Shakespeare: An Oxfordian Reading of the Canon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., 2006. 271p. Michael Delahoyde Washington State University In the previous issue of the Rocky Mountain Review, I discussed three key recent works emerging from the fast-growing conviction that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote what became the “Shake-speare” canon: the collection of articles published as Great Oxford (2004); Mark Anderson’s biographical “Shakespeare” By Another Name (2005); and Hank Whittemore’s colossus on Shakespeare’s sonnets, The Monument (2005). Here, a look at three more publications brings us up to date in this obviously active area of Oxfordian studies. Helen Heightsman Gordon has decades of professional experience in teaching, editing, publishing, and educational administration. She has published five textbooks in addition to other books, journal articles, poetry, and a trademarked word game. I mention this because of the unusual circumstance that the book under scrutiny here is self-published. It should be taken as an excellent sign that I did not make this realization until I had read enough of the work to decide that I wanted to review (and, hence, somewhat publicize) this book. In The Secret Love Story in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, Gordon intelligently and humanely explicates well over five dozen of the poems, providing the sonnets themselves, thorough and straightforward paraphrases, and concise but never hasty discussions.
    [Show full text]
  • The English School of Chess: a Nation on Display, 1834-1904
    Durham E-Theses The English School of Chess: A Nation on Display, 1834-1904 HARRISON, EDWARD,GRAHAM How to cite: HARRISON, EDWARD,GRAHAM (2018) The English School of Chess: A Nation on Display, 1834-1904, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/12703/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The English School of Chess: A Nation on Display, 1834-1904 Edward Harrison This thesis is submitted for the degree of MA by Research in the department of History at Durham University March 2018 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. The English School of Chess: A Nation on Display, 1834-1904 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]