Shakespeare Identified [View all]

"Shakespeare" Identified in Edward De Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford
By J. Thomas Looney

http://books.google.com/books?id=B004AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

On it's own merits, Shakespeare Identified is a great detective story. Those who are firmly tied to the belief that simple Will Shakspere went to London and became William Shake-speare, the greatest writer in the English language, and then returned to Stratford to become a grain dealer, will probably find this book stupid and unreadable. Those with a more open mind will find this book fascinating, and they might come away from reading it with vastly different perspective not just on Shakespeare, but literature and art in general.

Doubts about the authorship of the Works of Shakespeare had been raging in literary circles for the better part of the 19th century when J.T. Looney, a schoolmaster in England, came along. Having spent years teaching The Merchant of Venice to students, Looney felt that he knew the author, and like so many others could not reconcile the author he knew with the biography we have. But rather than try to fit a known author into Shakespeare's shoes, Looney proceeded as if the author was NOT known, and then proceeded to develop a police-type profile that would fit the true author and then determine if anyone could fit any of the necessary characteristics.

Looney developed 9 general and 8 specific traits that the author of the Works would possess. He determined that although the author's name was not attached to the plays, it was very likely to be attached to works of lyric poetry, so he searched for unrecognized poets who composed in a style similar to Shakespeare.

He found only one: Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford.

At the time of Elizabeth The House of Oxford was the oldest and highest ranking noble family in England, second in prestige only to the Crown. But who was Edward de Vere? Looney discovered that in his youth de Vere was the brightest star in Elizabeth's court, renowned for his eccentricity and for the plays which he created for the Queen's entertainment. Inexplicably, no plays survive under the name Edward de Vere. More inexplicable is that this most famous of courtiers was forgotten by history. Edward de Vere was banished from court in the late 1580s and lived the rest of his life in obscurity.

But just when Edward de Vere disappears the works of William Shake-speare begin to appear...

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So why is the authorship of William Shake-speare important?

First of all credit where credit is due. If the man from Stratford deserves credit then he should get it. By the same standard if Edward de Vere wrote the works then he deserves the credit.

More importantly, the way we understand Shakespeare in our society has, I believe, corrupted our understanding of art. William of Stratford was a "genius" who cut and pasted for money, and just happened to come up with the most highly regarded writing in history without leaving a trace of his own personality in his works. His artistic descendants have sought to emulate him, and they have produced some pretty crappy art if you ask me.

Vere was a highly intense individual. When one reads the works of Shake-speare as being his, one can sense the author screaming to be heard. A culture that recognizes Oxford as Shakespeare might also re-align its artistic priorities away from commercialism and more toward self-expression for its own sake. That would be my hope.

Anyway I would love to engage in conversation over Looney's book or on the Authorship Controversy in general, with Stratfordians who have an open mind, and with Oxfordians who like me have discovered Edward de Vere and would like to further our understanding him and his relation to the Works of Shakespeare.

Here is Sonnet 81, a poem that shouts I am Edward de Vere, a man who knew that his works were great, and knew they would never be attributed to himself.

SONNET 81

Or I shall live your epitaph to make,
Or you survive when I in earth am rotten;
From hence your memory death cannot take,
Although in me each part will be forgotten.
Your name from hence immortal life shall have,
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die:
The earth can yield me but a common grave,
When you entombed in men's eyes shall lie.
Your monument shall be my gentle verse,
Which eyes not yet created shall o'er-read,
And tongues to be your being shall rehearse
When all the breathers of this world are dead;
You still shall live -- such virtue hath my pen --
Where breath most breathes, even in the mouths of men.

And the final admonition a dying Hamlet charges to Horatio:

O good Horatio, what a wounded name,
Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!
If thou didst ever (E. Ver) hold me in thy heart
Absent thee from felicity awhile,
And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,
To tell my story.