A few years ago I stumbled across a beautiful poem written about “what is success“, authored and created by an American essayist, lecturer and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson in the late 19th Century.
Being completely in awe of this poem, that states nothing about “money” in his words about success, I was disappointed to discover that Ralph Waldo Emerson did not write this actual poem. It turns out that the real authorship is a Bessie Stanley, who in 1865, entered a competition in the local newspaper, Lincoln Tribune to answer the question, What is success. It turns out that Bessie, a housewife, had entered and won the poetry competition, however, history had acclaimed Ralph as the author.
Last year I heard another poem, “Return to Love” by an American author, Marianne Williamson, and it turns out many people believed that Nelson Mandela had it as his inaugural speech, in fact this is not true at all.
A few weeks ago I was discussing these mysteries of authorship with a business colleague and he was talking to me about another inspirational poem that I had not heard, “Desiderata”. He went on to discuss the poem being discovered buried at an old church in Baltimore, Maryland in the late 1600’s. I read the poem and was impressed with its wisdom. After some research I discovered that it was not an old masterpiece poem, however, written in 1927 by Max Erhmann of Indiana, USA.
So what to make of all this confused authorship. There is also much speculation around the authorship of the works of Shakespeare. Apparently it could be Henry Neville - or even Sir Francis Bacon. I think that there is a list of possible authors, or a combination of a few?. Look at the date of the William Shakespeare’s birth and death ~ (baptised 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616). Now look at this list of who was around at the time of Shakespeare.
Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552 – 29 October 1618) was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England.
John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was a noted English mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist,[4] and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount Saint Alban,[1] KC (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist and author.
Sir Henry Neville (c. 1562 – July 10, 1615) was an English politician, diplomat, courtier and distant relative of William Shakespeare
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (12 April 1550 – 24 June 1604) was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts,
Christopher Marlowe,(baptised 26 February 1564–30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era.
Benjamin Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor.
Thomas Middleton (18 April 1580 – 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet.
Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke née Mary Sidney (27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621), was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, poetry, poetic translations and literary patronage.
I will leave you to ponder this authorship – as we will never truly know the answer. The only question it does raise also is this….
Why were most of the plays set in Greek times? And what connection does WILL- I AM SHAKESPEARE have as to the Greek mythological goddess, Athena, the goddess of Wisdom and the Arts – who’s statue is of a SPEAR SHAKER who shakes her spear in face of the ignorance of humanity.
More info here re this question
Ben Jonson info here
Edward De Vere info here
Even if it comes to naught, isn’t it just great fun to question everything before ever believing it?
40 years ago today, the greatest rock band of all-time released the greatest rock album of all-time, Led Zeppelin IV. A powerhouse from the legendary opening vocal intro of “Black Dog” to the final notes of the hypnotic Mississippi blues-infused “When The Levee Breaks,” IV contains eight radio classics including “Rock And Roll,” “The Battle Of Evermore,” “Misty Mountain Hop,” “Four Sticks,” “Going To California,” and, of course, the ultimate rock anthem, “Stairway To Heaven.” “Hats Off” to Jimmy, Robert, John Paul, and John for creating a true work of art that only gets better with age.
