Sorry, I have no reply, my head is spinning and I seem to be chatting with
my friend who is an Oxfordian about Shakespeare. I must have hit the reply
button by mistake.At 11:30 AM 10/11/00 +0100, you wrote:
>A.C. Hamilton wrote:-
> >To my knowledge no recent critic has queried Spenser's authorship of The
> >Shepheardes Calender, I think because from the beginning his identity was
> >an open secret at least from 1580 when, in the Two Letters Harvey refers to
> >Spenser's Rosalindula . . . mea bellissima Collina Clouta, and in his Latin
> >poem Spenser, known as Immerito, names himself 'Edmundus'.
>
>OK, I will lay my cards on the table. I am researching the early
>life of Christopher Marlowe, after having a book published on
>his authorship of the Shakespeare works after he was exiled
>in 1593.
>
>The alleged references to 'Shakespeare', in Spenser's works,
>brought me to 'Colin Clout's Come Home Again' and 'The Tears
>of the Muses'. I realised straight away that the story told by Colin
>Clout fitted with what I had already learned of Marlowe and that is
>why he doesn't mention the names 'Marlowe' or 'Shakespeare'
>when he is discussing other poets: he was both of them!
>
>In reading the letter from Spenser to Harvey, which prefaced 'The
>Shephearde's Calendar', I realised that Spenser was singing the
>praises of a 'new poet'. I could not believe that Spenser would talk
>of himself in such terms -- and then I saw the note about 'pederasty'.
>
>I have evidence that Marlowe was Philip Sidney's page-boy from
>1572 to 1578. I also have evidence that there was a sexual
>relationship between the two. In 1572, Marlowe was eight and
>Sidney was eighteen -- pederasty? You bet. I would put money
>on Hobbinol being Sidney and Rosalind being a girl who Marlowe
>was keen on.
>
>Spenser was working as a secretary to the new Bishop of Rochester
>in 1578. He was introduced to Sidney by the latter's uncle, Robert
>Dudley, and the two spent a lot of time together. That puts Spenser
>in Kent and close to young Kit Marlowe.
>
> >The poem was
> >first openly acknowledged to be his in the 1611 Folio. Since the matter of
> >authorship was not even raised - I hope I remember this correctly - in the
> >Yale and Penguin editions of the Shorter Poems, nor in the Spenser
> >Encyclopedia, any sound historical evidence that Spenser was not the author
> >of the SC would be of major interest.
>
>The editors of those books would have no reason to question the
>authorship. The events of 1593 wouild have caused Spenser to
>cover his tail re. Marlowe. The whole story is too big and complicated
>to try to cover it via an e-mail. Anybody referring to Marlowe got into
>deep water; he had been sentenced to a living death. The story of his
>downfall was told by Ben Jonson in his 'Sejanus, his Fall' and Jonson
>was hauled before the Privy Council. The play was taken off and it
>had to be re-written before it was published.
>
> >In fact, it would be necessary to
> >begin Spenser criticism all over again.
>
>As I said, I am new to Spenser's material -- but I am sure that there
>are other poems that were really written by Marlowe. And there are
>references to him by Spenser in his works and letters. The Blatant
>Beast? The Phoenix? (Who else died and resurrected?)
>
>Peter Zenner
>
>P.S. Thanks for your note, Consuelo, I shall check that site
>out tonight. What happened to your reply Carol? You returned
>mine without adding yours!
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