'Counterfeiting' Shakespeare: Evidence, Authorship and John Ford's Funerall Elegye'Counterfeiting' Shakespeare addresses the fundamental issue of what Shakespeare actually wrote, and how this is determined. In recent years his authorship has been claimed for two poems, the lyric 'Shall I die?' and A Funerall Elegye. These attributions have been accepted into certain major editions of Shakespeare's works but Brian Vickers argues that both attributions rest on superficial verbal parallels; both use too small a sample, ignore negative evidence, and violate basic principles in authorship studies. Through a fresh examination of the evidence, Professor Vickers shows that neither poem has the stylistic and imaginative qualities we associate with Shakespeare. In other words, they are 'counterfeits', in the sense of anonymously authored works wrongly presented as Shakespeare's. He argues that the poet and dramatist John Ford wrote the Elegye: its poetical language (vocabulary, syntax, prosody) is indistinguishable from Ford's, and it contains several hundred close parallels with his work. By combining linguistic and statistical analysis this book makes an important contribution to authorship studies. |
From inside the book
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Page i
... expressions ; both use too small a sample , ignore negative evidence , and violate basic principles in authorship studies . Through a fresh examination of the evidence , Professor Vickers shows that neither poem has the stylistic and ...
... expressions ; both use too small a sample , ignore negative evidence , and violate basic principles in authorship studies . Through a fresh examination of the evidence , Professor Vickers shows that neither poem has the stylistic and ...
Page 16
... confident assertions , Taylor's argu- ment was seriously flawed . The possibility he seemingly never considered is that this poem merely recycles conventional expressions available to 16 Prologue . Gary Taylor finds a poem.
... confident assertions , Taylor's argu- ment was seriously flawed . The possibility he seemingly never considered is that this poem merely recycles conventional expressions available to 16 Prologue . Gary Taylor finds a poem.
Page 17
... expressions available to dozens of poets , dramatists , and prose - writers in the period 1580 to 1630 . Taylor offers us the option , ' either Shakespeare or poet x , yet to be iden- tified ' , but that is a false option , or none at ...
... expressions available to dozens of poets , dramatists , and prose - writers in the period 1580 to 1630 . Taylor offers us the option , ' either Shakespeare or poet x , yet to be iden- tified ' , but that is a false option , or none at ...
Page 21
... expressing doubt concerning the validity of basing authorship claims solely , or largely , on such evidence ( pp . 474 , 496 ) . The essays by Byrne and Sampley demonstrating the weakness of the undisciplined use of parallels based on ...
... expressing doubt concerning the validity of basing authorship claims solely , or largely , on such evidence ( pp . 474 , 496 ) . The essays by Byrne and Sampley demonstrating the weakness of the undisciplined use of parallels based on ...
Page 34
... expressions on himself by the rhyme - scheme he adopted , which made exorbitant demands on his linguistic resources . Having decided to take over the Petrarchan poet's Catch - 22 situation - ' if I declare my love I'll receive either ...
... expressions on himself by the rhyme - scheme he adopted , which made exorbitant demands on his linguistic resources . Having decided to take over the Petrarchan poet's Catch - 22 situation - ' if I declare my love I'll receive either ...
Contents
1 | |
PART I Donald Fosters Shakespearean construct | 55 |
PART II John Fords Funerall Elegye | 261 |
Appendices | 467 |
Notes | 509 |
Bibliography | 554 |
Index | 563 |
Other editions - View all
'Counterfeiting' Shakespeare: Evidence, Authorship and John Ford's Funerall ... Brian Vickers No preview available - 2009 |
'Counterfeiting' Shakespeare: Evidence, Authorship and John Ford's Funerall ... Brian Vickers No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Abrams abstract ascription attribution authorship studies Brian Vickers canon Christes Bloodie Sweat cited critics Cyrus Hoy death Dekker described diction discussion Donald Foster doth dramatist edition editors Elegy Elegye's Elizabethan Elliott and Valenza English essay evidence fair Fames Memoriall figure Ford's plays Ford's poems Foster claimed frequently Funeral Elegy Funerall Elegye Golden Meane hendiadys Henry instances John Ford Laws of Candy linguistic literary Love's Sacrifice Lover's Melancholy mind modern Monsarrat Mountjoy never Noble noun occurs opinion Oxford passage percent Perkin Warbeck phrase poem's poet poet's poetry praise prose published punctuation readers recurs refer Renaissance rhetoric rhyme Richard sample scenes scholars sequence Shakespeare's authorship Sonnets stanza statistics style stylistic Sun's Darling syntactical syntax Taylor tests thee Thomas thou tion usage verb verse line Vickers virtue vocabulary William Peter William Shakespeare Witch of Edmonton words writing wrote youth