Ann Herendeen

Dec 16, 2011 3:36 PM EST

I would be interested in finding out which Pro-Oxford book you read. You must have been dozing half of the time. Before you dismiss the Oxfordian theory, please tell me which Oxfordian spokesperson ever said that a commoner could not have written the works of Shakespeare. The debate has always been about evidence - not who could have written the works but who did.

If you are so quick to call names, please address the following questions:

How did Shakespeare acquire such an outstanding knowledge and scholarship in classical philosophy and mythology?
Why are the Shakespeare plays and poems so full of academic learning and University matters?

Why does Shakespeare often use, out of context and as if natural to himself, the idiomatic language of Cambridge University, and refer to customs and stories unique and private to that university?

Besides Latin and Greek, where did Shakespeare learn French, Italian and Spanish, which he needed in order to read certain source material which he used?

How did Shakespeare manage to get access to the multitude of books, many of them rare or untranslated, which he read?
How did Shakespeare acquire such a mastery of the English language and to such an extent that he not only used over 24,000 different words but also invented at least 1700 new words and Latinized others?

Why would Shakespeare want to use so many new and abstruse words and meanings?

Why are the Shakespeare plays and sonnets filled with legal terminology, some of it abstruse and all of it appropriately used?

Why do the Shakespeare plays indicate not only the author’s expert acquaintance with the law in general, but also with the language, rules, circumstances and even the most trivial aspects of Gray’s Inn and its twin establishment, the Inner Temple?

If Shakespeare was not a member of Gray’s Inn, how could he have known of the various circumstances and wording of the elaborate Gray’s Inn Revels of 1594/5?

Why do the Shakespeare plays appear to be written primarily from the point of view of a courtier, and with such intimate inside knowledge of the royal Court and foreign affairs?

How did Shakespeare acquire his detailed and seemingly first-hand knowledge concerning both people and places in countries such as Italy and France?

How did Shakespeare become so knowledgeable about and influenced by the Italian Commedia dell’ Arte?

Why do the Shakespeare plays contain so many political discourses, arguments and questions, demonstrating not only a personal interest but a good grasp of the issues involved in English politics?

From what is known about the actor Will Shakspere, how is it that the Shakespeare plays and poems are so full of profound and highly educated philosophy?

Where did Shakespeare acquire his profound knowledge of the Ancient Mysteries, upon which he based the underlying structures, rhythms and meanings of his plays, and his metaphysics?

If the author Shakespeare was not the actor Will Shakspere, which clearly he was not, then who was he?

- Howard Schumann

Dec 16, 2011 6:32 PM EST

I'm guessing it was Charlton Ogburn's 1984 book, The Mysterious William Shakespeare.

But it was a long time ago. If I wasn't dozing then I am now. I don't find the topic interesting in itself. My objection to all the alternative candidates is based on writing style.

I can't change your mind and you can't change mine. But I'm intrigued that you'd bother to post a comment on an obscure writer's blog.

Thank you for commenting.

- Ann Herendeen