"Shakespeare" Identified in Edward De Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford (Classic Reprint) - Softcover

J. Thomas Looney

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1332424961 ISBN 13: 9781332424962

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

Excerpt from "Shakespeare" Identified in Edward De Vere, the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford

The solution to the Shakespeare problem, which it is the purpose of the following pages to unfold, was worked out whilst the Great European War was in progress; and my wish was to give the matter full publicity immediately upon the cessation of hostilities. As this was found to be im practicable, steps had to be taken, both to ensure that the results achieved should not be lost, and also to safeguard what I believed to be my priority of discovery. With these objects, an announcement of the mere fact of the discovery, omitting all details, was made in November, 1918, to Sir Frederick Kenyon, Librarian of the British Museum, and he very readily undertook to receive, unofficially, a sealed envelope containing a statement on the subject. As more than a year has passed since the deposition was made, and as no one else has come forward with the same solution, the question of priority is not likely now to arise, and there fore, with the publication of the present work, the purpose of the deposited document naturally lapses. My first duty, then, must be to express my deep sense of indebtedness to Sir Frederick Kenyon for the freedom from anxiety that I have enjoyed whilst further developing the argument and carrying through its publication.

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Review

"Shakespeare" Identified in Edward de Vere the Seventeenth Earl of Oxford

Preliminary Note
Introduction

CHAPTER I
The Stratfordian View

Growing scepticism; Ignatius Donnelly; Anti-Stratfordian authorities; "Shakespeare" and law; "Shakespeare's" education; Halliwell-Phillipps; William Shakspere's early life; Shakspeare and Burns; William Shakspere's three periods; Closing period; The Will; Ben Jonson; Hemming and Condell; Penmanship; The "Shakespeare" manuscripts; The First Polio; Obituary silence; William Shakspere's middle period; No participation in publication; Uncertain duration; Uncertain habitation; The great alibi; William Shakspere's silence; Character of contemporary notices; The Stratfordian impossibility; Absence of incidents; No letters; William Shakspere as actor; Municipal records; As London actor; Accounts of Treasurer of Chamber; Missing Lord Chamberlain's books; Notable omissions; Summary.

CHAPTER II
Character of the Problem and Method of Solution

Authorship a mystery; A solution required; Literary authorities; " Shakespeare's" voluntary self-effacement; Genius; Maturity and masterpieces; A modem problem; The method of solution; Stages outlined.

CHAPTER III
The Author: General Features

Recognized genius and mysterious; Appearance of eccentricity; A man apart; Apparent inferiority to requirements of the work; An Englishman of literary tastes; Dramatic interests; A lyric poet; Classical education; Summary.

CHAPTER IV
The Author: Special Characteristics

His feudal partialities; Aristocratic outlook; Lancastrian leanings; Enthusiast for Italy; Sporting tastes; Music; Negligent in money matters; Mixed attitude towards woman; Catholicism and Scepticism; Summary.

CHAPTER V
The Search and Discovery

Choice of guide; Narrowing the operations; The point of contact; The actual quest; An important poem; Seeking expert support ; First indications ; Dictionary of National Biography ; Selection justified; Competing solutions.

CHAPTER VI
Conditions Fulfilled

Personal traits; Personal circumstances; Summary of points attested; Remaining points: Sport, Lancastrianism, Woman, Religion.

CHAPTER VII
Edward de Vere as Lyric Poet

Expert testimony; Dr. Grosart's collection; Oxford's early poetry; Hidden productions; The great literary transition embodied in De Vere; Oxford's style and Shakespeare's. His character in his writings.

CHAPTER VIII
The Lyric Poetry of Edward de Vere

Six-lined stanza; Central theme; Personality; Haggard hawk; Lily and damask rose; Love's difficulties; Love's penalties; Mental distraction; Interrogatives; Stanzas formed of similar lines; A peculiar literary form; Loss of good name; Fortune and Nature; Desire for pity; Echo poems; Romeo and Juliet; The Lark; Tragedy and Comedy.

CHAPTER IX
Records and Early Life of De Vere

Reputation of the Earl of Oxford; Reasons for concealment; The shadow lifting; Need for reinterpretation; False stories; Ancestry of Edward de Vere; Shakespeare and Richard II; Shakespeare and high birth; The Earls of Oxford in the Wars of the Roses; Shakespeare and the Earls of Oxford; The Great Chamberlain; Father of Edward de Vere; Shakespeare and Father worship; A royal ward; "All's well"; a remarkable parallel; Education; Arthur Golding's Ovid; De Vere and law; Life and book-learning; The universities; Relationship with the Cecils; General experiences; Dancing; Shooting; Horsemanship; Early poetry.

CHAPTER X
Early Manhood

Marriage; Sordid considerations; Oxford and Burleigh; Burleigh and literary men; Burleigh's espionage; Hostility; Raleigh; Desire for travel; Unauthorized travel; Visit to Italy; Shake -------

CHAPTER X
Early Manhood

Marriage; Sordid considerations; Oxford and Burleigh; Burleigh and literary men; Burleigh's espionage; Hostility; Raleigh; Desire for travel; Unauthorized travel; Visit to Italy; Shakespeare and travel; Oxford in Italy; Domestic rupture; An Othello argument; A sensational discovery; Kicking over the traces; Burleigh's methods of warfare.

CHAPTER XI
Manhood of De Vere. Middle Period. Dramatic Foreground

Gabriel Harvey; Holofernes; Oxford and Berowne; Philip Sidney; Bovet; Eccentricity; Vulgar scandal; Dramatic activities; Anthony Munday; Agamemnon and Ulysses; Troilus and Cressida; Lyly and the Oxford Boys; Shakespeare and Lyly; Apparent inactivity; Spenser and De Vere; Spenser's ''Willie"; Shakespeare and "Will.'

CHAPTER XII
Manhood of De Vere. An Interlude

Execution of Mary Queen of Scots and funeral of Philip Sidney; Oxford and his times; Shakespeare and politicians; Mary Queen of Scots and Portia; Spanish Armada and Shakespeare; Death of Lady Oxford.

CHAPTER XIII
Manhood op De Vere. Final Period

Material difficulties; Second marriage; An important blank; Shakespeare's method of production; Dating the plays; Rapid issue; Dramatic reserves; Habits of revision; De Vere a precisionist; State plays and literature; Plays as poems; Henry Wriothesley a personal link; Contemporary parties; Southampton, Bacon and De Vere; Death of Queen Elizabeth; The Boar's Head Tavern and Gadshill; Death of De Vere.

CHAPTER XIV
Posthumous Considerations

An unfinished task; Death's arrest; ''Lear" and "Macbeth"; Three periods of Shakespeare publication; Posthumous publications; 'Pericles" and the Sonnets; "King Lear" and "Troilus"; "Hamlet"; First Polio; William Shakspere's purchases; William Shakspere's supposed retirement and Oxford's death; Loyal helpers; Henry Wriothesley; The 1602 gap; Horatio de Vere; The second Lady Oxford; The series of sonnets closes; Summary; A conclusive combination; The substitution.
CHAPTER XV
Poetic Self-Revelation. The Sonnets

Resume of points already treated; Southampton the better angel; W. H. and T. T.; The poet's age; Southampton and Oxford's daughter Elizabeth; a significant marriage proposal; Sentiment of the sonnets; The dark lady; Supplementary details; The inventor of the Shakespearean sonnet; An early sonnet by Edward de Vere; Romeo and Juliet.

CHAPTER XVI
Dramatic Self-revelation Hamlet

Shakespeare's contemporaries in his plays; The dramatist in his dramas; Hamlet and destiny; Hamlet is Shakespeare; De Vere as Hamlet; Hamlet's father and mother; Hamlet and Polonius; Ophelia; Horatio; Patron of Drama; Minor points; Hamlet and his times; Hamlet's dying appeal

CHAPTER XVII
Chronological Summary of Edward de Vere and Shakespeare

CHAPTER XVIII
Conclusion

APPENDIX I
The Tempest

A check; The Tempest and other comedies; Shakespeare's philosophy: Quality of the play; Dumb show and noise; Shakespearean details; Wit; A play apart; Medievalism; Woman; Horsemanship; Sport; Human nature; General Vocabulary; Not " Shakespeare's work.

APPENDIX II
Supplementary Matters

The "Posthumous" argument; Oxford's Crest; Martin Droeshout's engraving; The Grafton portrait. --The book itself contains this

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1332424961
• ISBN 13: 9781332424962
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 496