deepundergroundpoetry.com
Authorship
It can’t ‘ave been ol’ Willy Shakes,
‘e’s just a commoner;
it must ‘ave been the Oxford Earl,
‘im what’s uptight and proper.
Ol’ Mister ‘Speare can shake ‘is will
as much as ‘e shakes ‘is willy,
to impute genius to sons
of glove-makers is still silly.
‘e’s just a commoner;
it must ‘ave been the Oxford Earl,
‘im what’s uptight and proper.
Ol’ Mister ‘Speare can shake ‘is will
as much as ‘e shakes ‘is willy,
to impute genius to sons
of glove-makers is still silly.
Published 18th Dec 2023
Author's Note
Inspired by the so-called “Shakespeare authorship question”, an oft-debunked conspiracy theory, rooted in classism, which claims that William Shakespeare didn’t write the plays. It assigns their authorship to the Earl of Oxford, among others.
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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The author encourages honest critique.
18th Dec 2023 11:42pm
I often think, “what’s in a name?” (I forget who wrote that :) he’s from Stratford upon Avon or he’s not, but surely “the play’s the thing” :)
20th Dec 2023 00:30am
21st Dec 2023 2:54am
The colloquial speech made me giggle. Listen, he was the Stephen King or James Patterson of the day... the most commercially successful writer of the age. He most likely was well educated, because his parents had a little power and money. He ripped off half of his plays from the Greeks, so his authorship for the large amount of material was never a real issue to me.
Until you start to analyze the role of women, and the social commentary, and the mental complexity of the characters. Was he growing as a writer and changing stylistically? Or, was a ghostwriter (guild) fleshing out the ideas ... like James Patterson does.
It's a good poem and a great topic!
Until you start to analyze the role of women, and the social commentary, and the mental complexity of the characters. Was he growing as a writer and changing stylistically? Or, was a ghostwriter (guild) fleshing out the ideas ... like James Patterson does.
It's a good poem and a great topic!
22nd Dec 2023 00:56am
Copyright is an interesting topic in relation to Shakespeare, in that it didn’t really exist in his day. It was common practice to not just recycle history, folklore, religious parables, Greek tragedies, and so on, but to straight up use the same plot and characters that other writers were using at that time. Possibly my favourite Shakespeare play is As You Like It, and the plot and characters for that were in common usage. Shakespeare just added to it his particular voice with all its humour and human insight, and elevated it to genius.
Thank you for an interesting and kind comment, Betty!
Thank you for an interesting and kind comment, Betty!
