'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 xvii
... true hendiadys , is exactly like that of ' W. S. ' , and their use of rhetoric is dysfunctional in the same way . The cumulative result of these analyses is to show that Ford's use of language , at whatever level one tests it , is ...
... true hendiadys , is exactly like that of ' W. S. ' , and their use of rhetoric is dysfunctional in the same way . The cumulative result of these analyses is to show that Ford's use of language , at whatever level one tests it , is ...
Page 17
... true , but they in no way allow the deduction that ' these neologisms therefore reinforce the poem's claim to authenticity ' ( 1985a , p . 13 ; 1985b , p . 1447 ) . There is a serious error of logic here , for all to see . Shakespeare's ...
... true , but they in no way allow the deduction that ' these neologisms therefore reinforce the poem's claim to authenticity ' ( 1985a , p . 13 ; 1985b , p . 1447 ) . There is a serious error of logic here , for all to see . Shakespeare's ...
Page 30
... true harts thought can spel , will soon conceiue , and learne to construe well . Spenser's conclusion is a good deal more sanguine than the Petrarchan mode otherwise offered . The texts by Tasso , Morley , and Spenser place ' Shall I ...
... true harts thought can spel , will soon conceiue , and learne to construe well . Spenser's conclusion is a good deal more sanguine than the Petrarchan mode otherwise offered . The texts by Tasso , Morley , and Spenser place ' Shall I ...
Page 34
... 46 Rhyme , the rack of finest wits , That expresseth but by fits , True conceit , Spoiling senses of their treasure , Cozening judgement with a measure But false weight . Wresting 34 Prologue . Gary Taylor finds a poem.
... 46 Rhyme , the rack of finest wits , That expresseth but by fits , True conceit , Spoiling senses of their treasure , Cozening judgement with a measure But false weight . Wresting 34 Prologue . Gary Taylor finds a poem.
Page 35
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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