(430) To be an "Antistratfordian" more than an "Oxfordian" , Sir Roger Penrose

  For many the case f o r  a “particular“Shakespeare candidate is weaker than the case a g a i n s t  Shakespeare

______

Roger Penrose

Sir Roger Penrose (born 1931) a Nobel-Laureate and outstandig English mathematical physicist,  and philosopher of science. Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford, some years ago gave an interview (s.Video below) to the German-American Institute in Heidelberg (DAI)

Asked about his father  Lionel Penrose  he answered  (7:28min)

He certainly had an interests in the arts, also  in  writing in  Shakespeare   …..I should make a point here … he was a great believer that the person called Shakspere was not the author of the Plays and there was a book he got his inspirations from which was by a man called  Looney , a rather unfortunate name because it suggests the idea he was crazy,  but  he was very insistent that people did not call him loony  or little like that.. -      but the book has made a very strong case, and  I was quite persuaded and I think I am rather persuaded that the case that Shakespeare  or the person William Shakspere who had no education and no books whatsoever  which is a very striking fact and no indication that    - apart from a few signatures – that  he ever wrote anything

asked if he think it was Bacon he replied

No ! I think the view that my father followed .. I  think is the most probable one…8:26  it was Edward de Vere, the Earl of Oxford. 

But i mean that the case for a particular individual is much weaker  than the case against Shakespeare  

….the fact that the person who had no books and  was probably illiterate could write those amazing plays seem to me quite a strong case…but the case for any particular individual was not so strong… but I thought that the case for Edward de Vere was not so bad .---
May  be that was the right answer,  but i wouldn’t…I have no real independent… – apart from forming views   I went to see the Tempest with my family not so long ago and that seemed to me very clearly a play where the author himself was revealing himself…and the person Prospero  was clearly somebody who was in the aristocracy , he was not somebody who came up from nothing , so I do feel there was something in the case...

---

(429) Perpetuating the Stratford myth..... for how much longer?

Prof. Leahy‘s .... limited imaginative power

Prof. William Leahy Vice Chancellor of the  Brunel University London Paperbacks published   2016

In April 23 2016 the world celebrated  the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death .-  Shakespeare,"an almost unknown human beeing, a mythical figure much like Jesus (as William Leahy wrote). But like Jesus we do not celebrate the real man, as we know almost nothing about him,  we celebrate the invisible, almost "fictitious"  Poet  Shakespeare who is associated with the plays in the same way that we celebrate Jesus as he appears in the Gospels." According to William Leahy  (Vice chancellor of the Brunel University, London), their function is to perpetuate the myth, build the brand, continue the fiction of this great man, this holy icon. That is their function – not to be real, but to be “there”. This is taken from an article "What Shakespeare, Jesus and Mickey Mouse have in common?" Leahy wrote  in March 23, 2016 in the Online Magazine "The Conversation" If we really celebrate the invisible, almost "fictitious"  Poet  [named]  Shake-speare who is associated with the plays (as Leahy put it) why Leahy never dared  at least to discuss in more details a corresponding  working hypothesis and theory of Marlowe, who in fact  had to remain invisible and write under fictitious (or semi-fictious) pseudonyms? Unfortunately an opaque "death certifi- cate" [of Marlowe] is an unsurmount-able obstacle, also for Leahy, even though it was discovered late, in the 20th century (1925), when the Stratford myth had already been fully  established  for almost  hundred years.-

(428) Why so many concealed co-authors of the Shakespeare Plays today ? Isn't ridiculous?

 The authors take the view of a Multi-authorship...

in contrast to 

this Web/Blog arguing for a "Multi-Pseudonymity of a single author....]

_______________

...a common starting point of the authors  Michael and Pauline Black in their new Book "Shakespeare Unravelled"  (2016) with all Anti-Stratfordians is that William of Stratford cannot have been the author of the First Folio Plays attributed to him.   They take, however, the  view of a "Multiauthorship theory" (including Fletcher, Peele, Marlowe, Kyd, Middleton, Daniel, Massinger, A-Bacon, Greville) compared to an opposite "Multi-Pseudonymity Theory"  of  this Marlowe Blog who sees in Marlowe the single Genius, who has created a more extensive work than previously adopted under a variety of pennames/ aliases/ pseudonyms/ signatures etc.

The flyer of the new book "Shakespeare Unravelled Court plays: the 1623 deception" by Michael  and Pauline  Black  tells us: it delves into the history and controversy surrounding William Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623) and sheds light on doubts about Shakespeare’s authorship .
The book looks into the reasons which prompted the concealed authorship, principally the fear of Spanish domination at the time because of the impending royal marriage of Crown Prince Charles and a Spanish Princess.
According to the authors , Shakespeare's dramas were written by well-educated writers – certainly not by the attributed author, Shakespeare.”

The book makes the  astonishing claim that the well known life and career of Shakespeare - poet, playwright and Swan of Avon - was largely invented after his death.  The real authors of the 1623 First Folio used the dead Shakespeare’s name to shield themselves from the censorship of the time. Until then, even in his home town, Shakespeare had been honoured as a businessman who invested in the theatre and occasionally acted.

_________________________

---

A major objection to the multi-author theory (among others) is that it is not possible or extremely unlikely that within in a narrow time frame  of a few years simultaneously  so many exceptional unrivaled poetic genius (a la Mozart) did exist and were able to compose such incomparable oustanding "literary" sonatas, symphonies  etc. .

(427) The "true" vulgar scandal of the "true" Shakespeare

Alexander Waugh not ready to  remove his "Oxfordian" blinkers! 

What a shame! 

        

The "orthodox" Oxfordian  Alexander Waugh, Honorary President of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition, Co-editor of  „Shakespeare Beyond Doubt? Exposing an Industry in Denial“ (2013) gave a talk [s. Video below] at the 2015  Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Conference in Ashland, Oregon,

Waugh dealt with the problem that in Shake-speare  Sonnets  the poet reveals that he is embroiled in a ‘vulgar scandal’ that has made him ‘a motley to the view’ and a ‘disgrace in men’s eyes.  ’Even though   at the beginning he warns the audience that there are high risks involved in interpreting the sonnets biographically: he does exactly that! 

————

In looking for any  literary evidence  of such a scandal, he selected early literary references to  Shakespeare such as 
Venus & Adonis  (Shakespeare),  
Avisa (H.W.), s.Blogs 414, 415,  416, 417 , 418 ,
Polimanteia  s.Blogs 403, 404,  405,  406,  407, 408 (W.C.),
Delia (S.Daniel),  
Epigrams  (Weever), 
Pygmalion (Marston).

---

How could it happen that Waugh completely ignored Marlowe who suffered the most dramatic vulgar life scandal of all english poets?

Almost 100 years ago, in 1923, 2 years prior (!!)  to  Hotson's discovery of the "Latin" Coroner's Report , Archie Webster concluded that not Shakespeare, but Marlowe must have been the author of the sonnets. He found the extraordinary life of Marlowe and...

                           ... his tragic "vulgar scandal" fully reflected  in the sonnets

Can anyone explain who biographically - if not Marlowe - could represent or mirror the subsequent contextual extracts of the sonnets of Shakespeare?

________________ extracts of Shakespeare‘s  sonnets_____________________________________


Fear, Anxiety,  Threat of life, Imprisonment, Faked death

Son.33:
»Anon permit the basest cloudes to ride, 
With ougly rack on his celestiall face« 
Son.68:
»To live a second live on second head« 
Son.73:
»A few do hange upon those boughs [Gallow]
which shake against the could« 
Son.74
»So then thou hast but lost the dregs of life, 
The prey of worms, my body being dead, 
The coward conquest of a wretch’s knife, 
Too base of thee to be remembered (…)
But be contented when that fell arrest 
Without all bail shall carry me away« 
Son.86:
»Aboue a mortall pitch, that struck me dead?« 
Son.107:
»Not mine own fears nor the prophetic soul
Of the wide world dreaming on things to come
Can yet the lease of my true love control, 
Supposed as forfeit to a confined doom.« 
Son.112:
»That all the world besides me thinkes y’are dead.« 

 Living in Exile, Banishment,, Flight, Concealment,
 Travels, Trennung, Separation

Son.26:
»Til then, not show my head« 
Son.28:
»The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee« 
Son.29:
»I all alone beweepe my out-cast state« 
Son.30:
»For precious friends hid in deaths dateles night,« 
Son.33:
»And from the forlorne world his visage hide«
»Stealing vnseene to west with this disgrace:« 
Son.39:
»Even for this let us divided live, 
And our dear love lose name of single one, 
That by this separation I may give
That due to thee which thou deserv’st alone 
And that thou teachest how to make one twain, 
By praising him here who doth hence remain.« 
Son.44:
»For then, despite of space, I would be brought, 
From limits far remote, where thou dost stay.« 
Son.61:
»Is it thy spirit that thou send’st from thee
So far from home into my deeds to pry«
Son.71:
»Give warning to the world that I am fled 
From this vile world with vildest wormes to dwell:« 
Son.97:
»How like a winter hath my absence been
From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year!«
Son.98:
»From you have I been absent in the spring« 
Son.109:
»Though absence seem’d my flame to quallifie, 
As easie might I from my selfe depart, (…)
Like him that trauels I returne againe, 
Iust to the time, not with the time exchang’d,« 

Scandal,  Disgrace, Stigmatisation, Blemish, Paralysis, Accusation, Extinction,  

Son.25:
»is from the booke of honour rased quite, 
And all the rest forgot for which he toild:« 
Son.26:
»And in them-selues their pride lies buried, 
For at a frowne they in their glory die.« 
Son.29:
»When in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes, 
I all alone beweepe my out-cast state«
Son.33:
»Stealing vnseene to west with this disgrace:« 
Son.34:
»That heales the wound, and cures not the disgrace
Nor can thy shame give phisicke to my griefe
Though thou repent, yet I have still the losse«
Son.36:
»So shall those blots that do with me remain, 
Without thy help, by me be borne alone. 
I may not evermore acknowledge thee, 
Lest my bewailed guilt should do thee shame
Though in our liues a seperable spight«
Son.37:
»So I, made lame by Fortune’s dearest spite 
So then I am not lame, poor, nor despised« 
Son.66:
»And right perfection wrongfully disgrac'd
»and Art made tongue-tied by Authority
Son.72:
»My name be buried where my body is, 
And liue no more to shame nor me, nor you
For I am shamd by that which I bring forth,« 
Son.90:
»Now while the world is bent my deeds to cross
O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,« 
Son.109:
»So that my selfe bring water for my staine, 
Neuer beleeue though in my nature raign’d, 
All frailties that besiege all kindes of blood, 
That it could so preposterouslie be stain’d, 
To leaue for nothing all thy summe of good:« 
Son.111:
»The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds 
Thence comes it that my name receives a brand 
Your love and pity doth th’ impression fill«
Son.112:
»Which vulgar scandal stamped upon my brow«
Son.121:
»When not to be, receives reproach of being (…)
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies (…)
At my abuses, reckon vp their owne(…)
My deedes must not be shown«
Son.125:
»Hence, thou suborned Informer, a true soul     
When most impeached, stands least in thy control.« 

Anonymity and Namelessness  

Son.25:
»Let those who are in favour with their stars, 
Of public honour and proud titles boast, 
Whilst I whom fortune of such triumph bars
Unlooked for joy in that I honour most« 
Son.71:
»O if (I say) you looke vpon this verse, 
When I (perhaps) compounded am with clay, 
Do not so much as my poore name reherse;«
Son.72:
»My name be buried where my body is, 
And live no more to shame nor me nor you«
Son.76:
»Why write I still all one, ever the same, 
And keep invention in a noted weed, 
That every word doth almost tell my name, 
Showing their birth and where they did proceed?«
Son.81
»Your name from hence immortal life shall have, 
Though I, once gone, to all the world must die«
Son.111
»Thence comes it that my name receives a brand«

Complaint, Sorrow,  Suffering, Grief, Sadness, Melancholy, Distress, Failure, Weeping  

Son.28
»But day doth daily draw my sorrows longer, 
And night doth nightly make grief’s length seem stronger.« 
Son.30
»Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, 
(…)
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, 
And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, 
Which I new pay as if not paid before.«
Son.34:
»Nor can thy shame give phisicke to my griefe«
Son.50:
»The beast that bears me, tired with my woe, 
Plods dully on, to bear that weight in me, 
(…)
For that same groan doth put this in my mind:
My grief lies onward, and my joy behind.« 
Son.64
»When I haue seene such interchange of state, 
Or state it selfe confounded, to decay, 
Ruine hath taught me thus to ruminate«

Marlowe's  Life smotto

Son.73
»In me thou seest the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, 
As the death-bed whereon it must expire, 
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.«

---

0 Comments

(426) Identical Handwritings of Shakespeare's will and the play of" Thomas More " !

Who was the writer of Hand D ?  Christopher Marlowe! A poet who  had to give up his identity and name, to  conceal himself and write under pseudonyms... e.g.   Alias Drayton? alias Shakespeare and   many others....) unimaginable, unbelievable, ridiculous  ?   yes!   .....  for ignorants..... Charles Hamilton Charles Hamilton (1914–1996) paleographer, handwriting expert and author of historical works in his book "In Search of Shakespeare" (1985) fashioned a "handwriting composition" by alternating lines from a) "Hand-D"(yellow) with lines from b) Shake-speare's "Will". (green).(s.also Blog 273) He concluded that "beyond any reasonable doubts", both hands resulted from the same author. - s.Faksimile below)                           How can that be? S John Wards Notebook ...Be aware, that there is evidence from John Ward's Notebook that a month prior to Shakspear's death 1616 "Shakspear, Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting and, it seems drank too hard for Shakespear died of a feavour there contracted.".....(s.Faksimile)                              What on earth Drayton had do in Stratford ? Be also aware that a month prior to his death Shakspere (Stratford) signed the draft of his will. Someone else [not William of Stratford] must have written it down. Since the handwriting of "Shakspere's" will is identical to the hand D of the anonymous play "Sir Thomas More" (compare white and yellow line sections, ) you may come to the conclusion that the assumed writer of Hand D ("Shake-speare") was the writer of the will , but it was not William of´Stratford.- - (Drayton must be discussed as early penname of the true poet. (study a bunch of plausible arguments blog 324,).- _________ The physician John Hall, son-in-law of Shakespear (Stratford) made  notes in his case books (Latin) on his patients, and so when treating Master Drayton, (an excellent Poet!) , he did mention Drayton ? but why never ever  his father-in-law William Shakspere ? Juxtaposion  of Handwritings of Shakespeare (his will) and Hand D (Thomas More)

(425) a totally unexplained lack of writing skills of Shakspeare (Stratford)

 A totally unexplained lack of writing skills of Shakspere (Stratford)

Why there is not a single  letter, note, manuscript,

 correspondence, payment ever  from Shakespeare (Stratford). ?

                                       

Shakspere's will page 3 1616

Signature Shakespeare legal document 1610

For some strange reasons  not a single written letter, note, manuscript, correspondence does exist for William Shakespeare (Stratford). Judging his handwriting skill we are dependent on 6 existing signatures.

Shouldn't  these few examples of a lack of motor writing skill  be sufficient to establish  - at least - a reasonable doubt that William of Stratford could have written all the immense  works of  the "Shakespeare Canon" ?.

Why do Shakespeare experts  think this argument is rather weak?

(424) Why Shakespeare didn't leave his wife his "second best house" (of his 5 residencies)?

To whom did Shakespeare leave his "best bed"?

Shakspere's Will, page 3:  belated insertion   to my wife " my second best bed

The fact that William Shakspere (Stratford) in his will left his wife nothing else than a bed seems to be a greater problem than the problem why only the "second best" bed. -

.....an even bigger problem is why "the second best bed"  as well as the rings to  "Heminges & Condell" (s.next blog) were inserted so belatedly in a finished text.

As long as a Shakspere  authorship problem is generally denied, very likely a more profound background of the true scribe  of  Shakspere's will (s.Blog 426) as well as the  (allegoric) meaning of the strange belated insertions  will never be discussed,   .

Last third page of Shaksperes Will (1616)

(423) Redat(shap)ing Shakespeare’s will ....inserted text with connections to the theater, why so late and so little ?

When and why these  late 

insertions 

(In Shakspere‘s will)  have taken place?

 

Insertion into Shakespeare's will: "...to my ffellowes John Hemynge Richard Burbage and Henry Cundell, 26 shillings 8 pence apiece to buy them rings

The head of legal records of The National Archives (TNA- the UK government's official archive, containing 1,000 years of history") has reinvestigated  Shakespeare’s original will and  came to the  conclusion   that parts of Shakespeare's  will had to be redated .-

Page two  has been identified as a page reused from a previously unknown will, written earlier, the other two pages were rewritten in January 25, 1616, and that all three pages were slightly amended in darker ink in late March 1616.
The  three-page will is dated 25 January 1616, with January crossed out and replaced by March.

Due to new technical analysis of infrared rays and multispectral analysis, it has been concluded that the paper and ink of the three folios pages are not uniform, and page 2 (click details)  were written with different paper and ink.-
In late March a small number of additions in a darker ink were squeezed (!)  into the will at this point in time, including the change from January to March, including  the bequests of mourning rings to his friends [Heminge, Burbage & Condell  s.Faksimile], and the [second-best] bed to his wife.

Why did it never surprise Shakespeare experts  that the "ingenious superbrain" Shakespere at first completely forgot in his will to leave even a single legacy for the theater and only belatedly  squeezed between  two lines an additional line bequeathing  fellows  (Heminge, Condell) with a ring, without considering more formative figures such as Ben Jonson or Henry Wriothesley?

(422) The Shakespeare authorship riddle: "Oxfordianism" obviously a big obstacle for its solution?

A paradigm shift is overdue and necessary ! 

 It's highly regrettable, that Oxfordians have comitted themselves so definetely and finally!

Tom Regnier

Tom Regnier, president at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship (SOF), an appellate lawyer in South Florida gave (besides earlier speeches) a fine presentation April 11 2016 at GableStage in Coral Gables Florida

Did Shakespeare really Write Shakespeare? –

Was William from Stratford able to write at all?

The basic knowledge and insights ( Regnier reports) has now circulated for almost 100 years . It has - remarkably - not led to a paradigm shift.

Whence he derives his expectations and hopes, that in another 100 years the Oxfordian case (Shakespeare was the penname of the Earl of Oxford) will be accepted general knowledge ?

Conclusion: Whereas Tom Regnier's question is fully justified (provided it is formulated more inocuous: Did Shakspere [of Stratford] really write Shakespeare [of the works] ?) his answer is not sufficiently justified.-

A paradigm shift is overdue and necessary ! 

It's highly regrettable, that Oxfordians have comitted themselves so definetely and finally!

(421) "Shakespeare's tiresome authorship ." (A german Essay)

No evidence exists supporting the idea that the Stratford businessman Wm.Shakspere  ever claimed  to be a poet or playwright during his lifetime, nor did any of his heirs or descendants long after he was dead. This is a link to an own German(!)  Essay " Shakespeare's tiresome authorship"  published  in the  weekly newspaper "Der Freitag"  April 23, 2016 on the occasion of  the anniversary of William Shakspere's 400 day of death....

(420) Hand written poem discovered pointing to the "true" authorship of Shakespeare...

..he lost the Fame, which he had gain'd before (line 4)

Newly digitized First Folio with 2 handwritten Poems, a) "To the Reader" of Ben Jonson and b ) of an unkown writer (s.above))

On the occasion of Shakespeare’s 400th  anniversary a Website “Shakespeare Documented"  recently has been launched  offering a great collection of  primary-source materials documenting the life and work of William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

There you find a  newly digitised First Folio (s.Faksimile). The opposite page to the Title page
 (-->the famous Droeshout engraving) is missing. Normally it exhibits  Ben Jonsons Poem “To the Reader”,

 instead you find a handwritten copy of Ben Jonson first folio  poem  together with a handwritten poem directly above it, of which the headline has torn out. (s.above)

Ros Barber has pointed out on her web-site that one will not be able to  understand or interprete the poem unless one considers the Marlowe/alias Shakespeare authorship thesis.

The meaning of the poem is deliberately veiled.   The most revealing lines 4-6  tell us that  the shepheard [Marlowe] lost his fame which he had gained before, he was permanently forced to surrender and strove in vain – and  emphasised in italics(!) he had excelled himself  (sounds a bit like had „exiled himself“).

(419) An clairvoyant early vision of the "Shakespeare problem"

 ALEXANDER DYCE : 

 "if every old tragedy of more than usual merit, whose author is either doubtful or unknown, must be fathered' upon Marlowe, the catalogue of his [Marlowes] dramas will presently be swollen to a size, not easily reconcilable with the shortness of his life."

_________

Alexander Dyce "The Works of Marlowe" 1850

Alexander Dyce (1798 – 1869)  Dramatic editor and literary historian, an  early  biographer of Christopher  Marlowe in 1850 published "The Works of Marlowe with some account of the author, and notes".  In his chapter "Some account of Marlowe and his Writings" he concluded with 2 amazing prospects:

1.) It has been objectured that both "Locrine" and "Titus Andronicus" are by him:  but, if every old tragedy of more than usual merit, whose author is either doubtful or unknown, must be fathered' upon Marlowe, the catalogue of his dramas will presently be swollen to a size, not easily reconcilable with the shortness of his life.

2,) ...that he displays the vast richness  and vigour of his genius. But we can hardly doubt  that if death had not so suddenly arrested his career, he would have produced tragedies of more uniform excellence; nor is it too much to suppose that he would also have given still grander manifestations of dramatic power. 

Indeed for my own part, I feel a strong persuasion, that, with added years and well-directed efforts, he would have made much nearer approach in tragedy to Shakespeare than has yet been made by any  of his countreymen.

_____________

---

In 1850 Marlowe expert Alexander Dyce seems to have been clearly ahead of his time!  

But yet there was yet an insurmountable   barrier  to recognize "Shake-speare" as a pseudonym / penname  of the incomparably productive Marlowe since he was murdered  in a dispute over the payment of a bill exactly at the time of his greatest threat to life by the church and state.

(418) The unimaginable (never noticed) revelations of the "true" Shakespeare: B.Griffin ,"Fidessa" part 5

Concealed Christopher Marlowe  wrote under multiple pennames / pseudonyms  (such as  B.Griffin or W.Shake-speare).   Sonnet 53 of Griffins "Fidessa" is a blue print  of Marlowes destiny It’s a damning verdict for English Literature, that it never succeeded to identify an author B.Griffin having written the distinguished sequence of Sonnets „Fidessa“ 1596 at the peak time of Elisabethan sonnetiers. - The main reason for this failure was, among others, the fact, that is was not possible to fit highly specific contexts of an outstandig poet to the poets biographic situation. For 1596 this would only have been possible if the Marlowe theory would have been contemplated.- Fidessa in all respects literally provides the authentic blueprint of Christopher Marlowe‘s destiny (alias name: Shake-speare) . Sonnet 53 in FIDESSA Is there any other  poet  (besides Marlowe) in 1596 who could have  described himself   in such a concise way ?  Of Course, it couldn't  be Marlowe, because he was dead!  Shouldn't literature rethink the matter? __________ for details s. VIDEO!

(417) The unbelievable confessions of the true Shakespeare: B.Griffin in "Fidessa" Part 4

Sonnets 13 and 26  both deal with the  autobiographic theme of its author

  ( Marlowe/ alias Shakespeare) who did expose himself  with lethal risks he had not foreseen.

________________________               s.Video below!         ____________________________

I die to live in care

Sonnet 13 Sonnet 26

Sonnets  13 and 26 have nothing to do with "Amatory sonnets". Identically they both deal with the same autobiographic theme of its author  who did expose himself  with lethal risks he had not foreseen. He defends himself against the accusation of his lack of fidelity /loyalty.

He ambigously argues with his inner opposite, his virtue /his Queen. One can assume with considerable plausibility, that the author (Marlowe/alias Shakespeare) sees himself metaphorically in the mirror.

- Sonnet 13 -  the foolish Boy that did aspire  to touch the glory of hihg heavens Frame, compare me to Leander struggling in the waves, not able to attain his safety's shore

- Sonnet 26-   the proud aspiring Boy that needs would pry into the secrets of the highest seats, had some conceit to gain content thereby  or else his folly sure was wondrous great

Superficially the  last 2 lines in sonnet 13 and 26 differ, they disclose the matured art of Marlowe's (alias Shakespeare's) remarkable verbal dexterity,  his incomparable astute use  of  ambiguity and ambivalence ..

(416) The amazing revelations of the "true" Shakespeare : B. Griffin, " Fidessa" part 3

Fidessa" as a prime example 

of how devastating the academic Stratford dogma  

has misguided literary studies ..(s.video below!)

1  I hide 2  my head 3 a)my face /    b)no face 4  I live     a) alone /     b) as I were          dead

Last part of Sonett 33 (Fidessa) 1596

The 62 sonnets  of  Fidessa by B.Griffin (1596) represent a remarkable rare piece of poesie.

Apparently at present only a single exemplar in the Bodleian Library does exist! It is not certain, that the prename "B." of "Griffin" was „Bartolomew“. Alexander Grossart in 1876 published  a first reprint (50 private copies ). He regretted he could add  nothing to the poets empty life and biography, since  every probable source of information has been explored without success. All information we have is Fidessa, a small volume of "Amatory Sonnets" as Grossart called it.

All 62 sonetts  of the poem cycle "Fidessa" can and must be seen as a continuous poetic confrontation between the author himself  (concealed Marlowe/ alias Shakespeare) and his destiny.

Various sonnets of "Fidessa" have been identified as  putative "plagiarisms" of other authors: The third sonnet in Fidessa, beginning "Venus and yong Adonis sitting by her", was reproduced in 1599 in "The Passionate Pilgrime" (by W. Shakespeare), the Sonnet 35/39 in "Delia"  (Samuel Daniel) .

Sonnet 33 (s.Faksimile ) clearly illustrates the situation of the author (Christopher Marlowe/alias Shakespeare). As in Shakespeare's sonnets  the author  uses the method of repetition (doubling)  of specific word to highlight the contextual importance:

 He has to hide(1) his head (2) and live (3) alone as if he were dead, with  no identity,  no face(4)

The poem  of  "Fidessa"  clearly needs a theory of who was the author  providing us with an explanatory framework for its interpretation.

 The "Stratford Dogma"  had catastrophic consequences, since it  blocked all ideas  to approach an authorship solution!
_____________