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To: devere
...I can believe that a man could rise from humble origins to write great literature, but not that such a man could leave illiterate children behind him.

Yesterday, I was so taken aback to see such a faithful rendering of Hamlet's speech, that I neglected your comment captured above.

You make a very interesting point, which I should probably not attempt to discuss, but I simply cannot help myself.

Assuming that the children were indeed his own, and further assuming that the works were all Shakespeare's own, I would wonder whether the children were dyslexic, or "word blind," as it was called in another time. The question of what tutors, if any, Shakespeare employed for his offspring would certainly have to be answered, as well.

I have no answers. But it is certainly an interesting point.

23 posted on 01/08/2011 8:37:24 AM PST by Miss_Meyet (Good bye, tagline! Really, it's not you, it's me. [I have tagline commitment issues])
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To: Miss_Meyet

All we have in writing from the Stratford man is his will and 5 other signed documents, all of which indicate he had difficulty writing his own name, let alone the plays and other poetry attributed to Shakespeare.

The will famously left his second-best bed to his wife, and the bulk of his estate to his favorite daughter Susanna. There was no mention at all of manuscripts, books, or any other literary property. We are supposed to believe that 7 years earlier in 1609 he had allowed his most famous poems to be published by Thomas Thorpe, and had no property interest in that publication, or in the future publication of his famous plays.

In his book “Shakespeare Revealed in Oxford’s Letters” William Plumer Fowler analyzes 37 of de Vere’s letters and compares the language to the Shakespeare plays. The analysis itself is very interesting, but the frontispiece of the book was stunning to this longtime handwriting analyst. That picture of a handwritten letter by de Vere clearly revealed to me the brilliant dramatic poet who very likely was Shakespeare.

The mystery of who wrote the Shakespeare plays and sonnets will very likely never be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. It would be very nice to discover a manuscript of “The Tempest” in de Vere’s handwriting, which would settle all issues, chronological or otherwise. Barring such a miraculous event, we all just have our own considered opinion of the available evidence.


25 posted on 01/09/2011 10:33:14 AM PST by devere
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