Get a good annotated edition of Shakespeare's love sonnets. Then read them in order. I suggest the Folger Shakespeare Library edition. (The Folger Shakespeare library in Washington, D.C., is probably the world's leading center for Shakespeare studies.) If you read an isolated sonnet here and there as I did in college, you would assume the sonnet was addressed to a woman. When you read them in order, it is quite clear that the first 126 are addressed to a man.
I also ask, what’s your point?
I would think my point should have been obvious from the first post (and that anyone reading it would see the intended humor.) The argument that Shakespeare was a Roman Catholic is specious.
Yes, we all know there have been gays and pedophiles in the priesthood.
I wasn't alluding to that at all. But on the one hand there are Catholics claiming the greatest English playwright as their own, and on the other there are gay groups claiming Shakespeare as their own. Both arguments are laughable. What is certain about Shakespeare is that he was not a prig.
I have the Pelican. I’ll take a look at it and Folger. It’s been a long time since I read the sonnets. My professors hardly would have hesitated to point it out had they believed he was writing to a man. You didn’t really come across as joking but this is not a great venue particularly since so many groups attempt to claim so many people despite the historical facts. “The Bard” certainly did have a bawdy sense of humor! Anyway - sadly, there is a certain amount of Catholic bashing that goes on even on Freep. So I got uppity. The claim Shakespeare was Catholic is especially silly since the differences at the time with the Anglican church were in name only.
Having recently moved to the DC area, I have been hoping to get into the Folger Library relatively soon. Maybe after the snow and ice clears up.
Thanks for the enlightenment, and have a great holiday!