Actual Author of Shakespeare's Works

[zoobyshoe]

It is hardly necessary to add that every effort to find the slightest hint of foreign travel in the life of Shakspere, though made with great persistence, has thus far signally failed.

It is not at all clear to me why you think it impossible that Shakespeare knew someone who had been to Italy, seen the sculpture by Romano, and described it to him. Although the knowledge that Romano was a sculptor may have been lost to history until recently, at the time, hundreds, possibly thousands of people may have been aware of his sculpture.

Likewise any poem you mention which, as far as we know, only existed in Italian, could have been translated for Will by anyone he knew who spoke Italian and thought he might enjoy it. He was a poet. Acquaintances would have constantly been bringing poems from everywhere to his attention. He would get together with people and sit and discuss poets and poetry for hours, no doubt, because all poets do this. We can infer he was an extrememly social person since he was an actor, and from his plays, which demonstrate he was conversant with people from all walks of life, and all professions, high and low. One thing I know: shy people don't act. Shakespeare was not a scholarly hermit. He was, at the very least, always out where there were people who were talking so he could listen to them, even if he wasn't conversing himself.

P.S. To HonestRoseWater: My suggestion that Elizabeth wrote the plays was not to be taken seriously. It was just an excercize to demonstrate that, given our relatively vague knowledge of the times, there are quite a few people you could decide really wrote Shakespeares plays, and start finding all kinds of interesting dots to connect that supported your "suspect". The longer you work at it, and the deeper you dig, the more dots you can find that seem to support nearly anyone. In recent times, the same thing has happened concerning the identity of Jack the Ripper. There are many good cases for quite a number of different people. There are dots everywhere.

 

[honestrosewater]

P.S. To HonestRoseWater: My suggestion that Elizabeth wrote the plays was not to be taken seriously. It was just an excercize...

I know :)

I realize the intention of your remarks, but I want to point out something.

And I agree with the rest of what you say.

For instance, I know a lot about castles and daily life in a castle- not because I once lived in a castle, but because I wrote a play that took place in a castle and had to do research. Calling everything a whatchmacallit or thingamajigger gets annoying after a while. Two castles that I used specifically for their "look" were (IIRC) Kilchurn castle in Scotland and another beginning with a "B", something like Beaumount, in England or Wales. I've never been to Britain- writers do research. I never dropped or thrust anything through a murder hole. Writers do research and mix fact with fiction.

I like the characterization, "A man on whom nothing was lost." And that's the kind of person I try to be. It takes one to know one

Inferring knowledge is a tricky business. Especially when your source is a work of fiction.

Happy thoughts
Rachel

 

[zoobyshoe]

I've never been to Britain- writers do research. I never dropped or thrust anything through a murder hole. Writers do research and mix fact with fiction.

Exactly. In Shakespeare's day "research" would have meant directly talking with, or at least listening to, people who had forsthand knowledge of the subject. Not with the intention of learning the subject to write a treatise about it, but only to create the impression that the characters in the play speak from direct experience.

I like the characterization, "A man on whom nothing was lost."

He was clearly an exceptionally brilliant, observant person. Bacon may also have been. That is no evidence they were one in the same. Michelangelo and Leonardo coexisted in the same time and culture without being the same person.

 

[FrancisWilliamShakes]

1.Is there evidence that Will Shaksper and Francis Bacon met? Knew each other?
2.Why would Shaksper allow him to use his name? Would that not put him in jeopardy?
3.You made reference to the Shroud of Turin connection. What was that about?

 

[honestrosewater]

3.You made reference to the Shroud of Turin connection. What was that about?

I just mentioned it as an example - there's no connection that I know of.

 

[FrancisWilliamShakes]

Thank you for that.
I stumbled upon this thread by serendipity and I am trying to get my mind wrapped around this issue: If it were dangerous to use his real name, then would not using Will Shakper's name place him in jeopardy, as well? Why use the name William Shakespeare and not John Doe or Jane Smith? Was it just a coincidence that there was an actor named William Shakespeare or did the two have some sort of (financial) arrangement?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Thank you for that.
I stumbled upon this thread by serendipity and I am trying to get my mind wrapped around this issue:

There is no issue. William Shakespeare wrote the works of William Shakespeare. This Francis Bacon thing is a tedious excercize in confirmation bias. Francis Bacon says so:

confirmation bias
Address:http://skepdic.com/confirmbias.html


What's your thing? Actor or playwrite?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

New evidence

Here is some new evidence. I went to the library to get a copy of Hamlet. This is what was on the title page:

------------------------------
The Tragedy of
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

by William Shakespeare
------------------------------

Pretty much lays this one to rest.

 

[FrancisWilliamShakes]

You would probably be interested in a bridge I have for sale - right next to some very picturesque swampland.

 

[Jim KQKnave]

The small number of correspondences between the language
of Bacon and the language of Shakespeare are due to the influence
of Shakespeare on Bacon's translators, as Bacon wrote most of
his work in Latin. Shakespeare was Shakespeare, not Bacon, Marlowe,
Rasputin...

Jim

The Droeshout portrait is not unusual at all!
http://hometown.aol.com/kqknave/shakenbake.html

 

[Chi Meson]

It's aliiive!

 

[arildno]

It's aliiive!

Indeed. And here's a few immortal words about death. And life:

"And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God's sake, let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings"

 

[mathwonk]

actually i wrote several of them myself.

much ado about something, loves labors temporarily mislaid, a midsummers night senior moment, and hambone - prince of west tennessee.

then this low life actor revised them, improving them only slightly and takes ALL the credit.

 

[arildno]

actually i wrote several of them myself.

much ado about something, loves labors temporarily mislaid, a midsummers night senior moment, and hambone - prince of west tennessee.

then this low life actor revised them, improving them only slightly and takes ALL the credit.

Your versions are a lot better than his.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I wrote West Side story, but Shakespeare so ripped it off

 

[drmetablog]

Some facts about the so-called authorship question

It's bogus, no more credible to Shakespeareans than flat-earthism is to physicists. Try this: http://scrolling.blogs.com/drmetablog/2007/03/authorship.html

 

[Chi Meson]

The thread that wouldn't die!

 

[lisab]

It's a living dead thread!