humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

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"Shakespeare's plays may have been written by a Warwick nobleman"

I don't think they were, though...

i.e., this is not my own view...

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(quote)


Shakespeare's plays may have been written by a Warwick nobleman - and
a tomb in St Mary's church could hold the key to proving it. In his
book The Master of Shakespeare, writer AWL Saunders claims he has
uncovered the true identity of the poet and playwright behind
Shakespeare's work.
He believes the sonnets and plays were written by Fulke Greville, Lord
Brooke, a courtier, soldier and celebrated writer well known for the
biography of his friend Sir Philip Sidney.

Mr Saunders said he had been intrigued for some time by a remark
Greville made that he wished "to be known to posterity under no other
notions than of Shakespeare's master".

After reading that a 1990 computer study ruled out candidates such as
Christopher Marlowe and Francis Bacon but left Greville's claim
intact, Mr Saunders used a computer to compare the writings and known
life story of Fulke Greville to deductions based on the first folio of
Shakespeare's works.
This is his story.

Author AWL Saunders wrote: "I compiled a profile of Greville and
compared it to the folio profile and was amazed to discovered that he
was an exact, one could say quite perfect, match with the profile of
'William Shakespeare'."

Mr Saunders built up a database of 177 'profiles' based on possible
biographical details found in Shakespeare's work and biographical
facts and references from Greville's writings.

He believes these show the two writers, both from Stratford, look
alike, used similar language and shared insight into areas such as
sailing and law, and that characters and episodes from Greville's life
match details that can be gleaned from Shakespeare's sonnets and
plays.
One of Mr Saunders' arguments is based on a tribute by Shakespeare's
contemporary Ben Jonson's included in the edition.

Jonson refers to the Stratford poet as a "Monument without a tombe",
which Mr Saunders believes may refer to a tomb Greville had built in
St Mary's church in 1623.

The marble monument resembles a double bed on which is placed a black
sarcophagus.

Its inscription reads: "Folk Grevill, Servant to Queene Elizabeth,
Concellor to King James, and Frend to Sir Philip Sidney."

Greville is not buried in the tomb, and his body was instead placed in
the family vault beneath it, so Mr Saunders believes Jonson, who knew
Greville and referred to his friendship with Shakespeare, was instead
alluding to the monument which was not the poet's final resting place.

Mr Saunders believes Sidney, a lifelong friend of Greville, may have
been the male object of affection in some of Shakespeare's sonnets,
and says other figures in Greville's life correspond to characters
such as the 'dark lady' of the poems.

He even suggests Greville may have arranged for Sidney's body to be
moved to the sarcophagus in St Mary's church.

According to the book, a William Shakspere of New Place, Stratford was
a grain merchant recorded as having given and received loans, with no
documentary
evidence to suggest he was a writer.

Mr Saunders suggests Greville may have invented a pseudonym based on
his nickname of 'gentle Mr William and an invitation by poet George
Peele to "shake your spears" in honour of Sidney's name.

He has no doubt it would have been impossible for the actor and
playwright supposed to have written the plays to have co-existed with
the learned courtier and poet without there being a record of the two
men knowing each other.

Mr Saunders wrote: "It is not possible to calculate exactly the odds
against there having been two sixteenth and seventeenth century poets
of Stratford, who could both match the 177 profiles in this study.

"I asked two mathematicians if it were possible to calculate the odds
against there being two such men. "Both were of the opinion that it
was not possible but that if it were, the odds against it would be
astronomical."

The full article contains 651 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
Last Updated: 19 February 2008 8:47 AM
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http://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/features/William-Shakespeare-or-Fulke-Greville.3790601.jp