Many fans of "William Shakespeare" often miss out the vital details of Shakespeare's life and career. 

James Halliwell Phillips writes in his two-volume analysis “Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare” published in 1887 in order to determine the “Correct Dating of Shakespeare’s Plays”:

“The would be biographer of Shakespeare is baffled in every quarter by the want of graphical documents, and l...

Read and leave comments (0)

The subject of many literary and cultural endeavours, for example Alfred Lord Tennyson and the Pre-Raphaelite artists to name but a few the legend or "quaint history" of the elusive "King Arthur" rivals that same fabulist concoction known as "Robin Hood" or "William Shakespeare"-all of which are endorsed by leading institutions as irrevocably TRUE! But what real evidence is available to substantia...

Read and leave comments (3)

After four months of planning and organisation my newly re-vamped website is now up and running. A Very Merry Beltane to all my readers, fans, friends and supporters! Qudos Academy is a non-profit organisation or website dedicated in some degree to supporting the Oxfordian view that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford was the author of the 1623 “Shakespeare” Folio of plays. It does not support...

Read and leave comments (0)

Well, who would have known and celebrated that this year 2024 represents the 460th birthday of the pseudonymous "William Shakespeare" who apparently was most likely born on St. George's Day, the 23rd of April, or was it? There is a tendency among Stratfordian academics, eager to establish themselves as viable researchers and literary authorities to embellish, embroider and stitch together elements...

Read and leave comments (0)

We have arrived at the letter "D" in the search for the encycopaedic mind of "William Shakespeare" and it would seem 'much further to go'. But within Shakespeare’s accomplished literary toolbox we also find the use of Diacope (di-a'-co-pee) which is the close repetition of words broken by one or two intervening words:

“Done like a Frenchman: turn and turn again.” Henry VI Pt. 1, 3.3.17.

Dia...

Read and leave comments (0)

Hope you enjoyed the Easter break celebrating the return of Spring with a crucifixion is odd I know but that's life and death guys! Over the past few weeks I have been analysing Shakespeare's poetry and plays to ascertain the depth of knowledge required from the 16th century to write poetry and screenplays. It would seem that we have arrived at the letter "C" and that leads us into the use of the ...

Read and leave comments (0)

In this a series of weekly essays on "Shakespeare's Prosody" I have attempted to correct, revise and make articulate to the modern mind the content and structure of the Sonnets, as well as some of the poetry attributed to W.S. I confess when reading these the inherent meaning is either absent or lost due to the antiquated syntax, use of extant words and the overall poetic mode or mood associated w...

Read and leave comments (0)

What better way to celebrate both the first day of Spring and World Poetry day with a "tongue twister" which took a long time to rehearse and then perform publically! So hold on to your seats, here goes:

A riddle-a diddle-a diddleo, a riddle-ariddle-epo

A video-rideo-diddleo, a kineoviddle-epo

A middle, a centre, a left and a right,

A riddle, a question, a puzzle-epo, a muscle-puzzle-e...

Read and leave comments (0)

In a series of weekly blogs I have been researching the poetic techniques of the pseudonymous "William Shakespeare" (See previous blog entry: "Shakespeare's Prosody") in an attempt to determine the level of education the dramatist from Stratford-upon-Avon would have acheived in his short life of 52 years. Generally speaking, poets are by nature extremely egotistical, and none more so than our home...

Read and leave comments (0)

Whoever “Shakespeare” was, it is quite clear from the linguistic cornucopia in the plays and poetry that he must have been a living, walking encyclopaedia on the subject of Greek and Roman prosody. Nearly every play and poem attributed to “Shakespeare” has a vast number of literary and rhetorical techniques, some rare, some extremely obscure and others which would require a classical education in ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Having recently discussed the direction that Modern Poetry might take in the 21st century with several poets and writers I picked up a weighty volume entitled “The 20th Century in Poetry” from my local library and was surprised to find few references to major events such as the Atomic bomb at Hiroshima or the first Man in Space or the first Moon landing in that particular anthology. Not that there...

Read and leave comments (0)

Critical analysis of poetry may be useful for identifying what makes poetry work or what universal or subjective meaning we might construe from reading it. Aside from that constructive criticism and in-depth analysis should enable us to enjoy and appreciate the value of poetry in our lives even more and develop our intuitive and discriminative mind in terms of understanding what it means, or why w...

Read and leave comments (0)

In terms of mere merit, all written or spoken poetry requires a reader or listener, without which it is impossible to comprehend, understand or define absolutely how poetry works. Poetry requires or even necessitates an audience, to be heard or known to exist. Poet and audience are interdependent and related factors. Without these factors there would be no need for poetry or poets to exists. In ac...

Read and leave comments (0)

In my recently published book, “Shakespeare’s Qaballah”, (A Companion to Shakespeare Studies) I also mentioned that plays were usually commissioned for performance at court either to entertain some visiting foreign dignitary, to celebrate a state occasion/wedding or some military or diplomatic achievement. (See “The Elizabethan Festival Cycle”). Depending on their success and popularity they might...

Read and leave comments (0)

Following the recent discovery of some 16th century floorboards on which apparently the "Bard" had stood on and acted his plays, would you believe it if the Folger Shakespeare Library would inevitably purchase a piece of the ancient stage to add to its dustbin of Shakespearean Relics? I would certainly accept such a cultural myth. And yet the myth of "Shakespeare" persists despite condemnations fr...

Read and leave comments (2)

Bonfire blaze

Misty Moon

Wilting rose

Pink balloon

Children’s laughter

Parent’s glee

Cold hereafter

“What’s for tea?”

I’ve got pizza

And some wine

In the freezer...

Sounds sublime.

Or there’s fish

At suppertime?

So just one wish

Before you climb

The wooden hill

To paradise

Where you might fill

Your hearts’ delight

And langu...

Read and leave comments (0)

"Sweet Apple Tree that pleasantly grows,

Whose fruit I once stole to please a fair maiden

When, with sword on my thigh, stout shield on my shoulder,

Alone I slept in the woods of Calydon.

Beneath its branches I began softly to fade,

Dreaming that around its' trunk I quickly played

With a sweet enchantress of most splendid form.

And since then for ten and forty years

I becam...

Read and leave comments (0)

The latest in my series of articles entitled "A Rural Calendar" which month by month explores the significance of the numerous customs and traditions practised by the inhabitants of the British Isles in the past. This week the Month of October

www.qudosacademy.org
 

Read and leave comments (0)

That I am subject to intemperate change

And victim to fate’s whimsy or fate’s spite

Seems strangely undeserved of late.

Sometimes, when all is well, I wish the sun

Would ne’er set swiftly on that day;

And night, dark night forget to call.

For I am dragged relentlessly each year

Through winter’s death, and then to be restored

In spring’s resurgent breath and there,

B...

Read and leave comments (0)

The latest in my series of articles entitled "A Rural Calendar" which month by month explores the significance of important dates, festivals, customs and traditions practised by the inhabitants of the British Isles in the past.

Today, I examine the Month of September

Read and leave comments (0)

I found this article on the internet and thought it would be of interest to western writers from its singular perspective:

Preface

I have often studied the works of talented men of letters and thought to myself that I obtained some insight into their minds at work. The ways of employing words and forming expressions are indeed infinitely varied. But, accordingly, t...

Read and leave comments (0)

This year being the 400th Anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s 1623 Folio of plays, Qudos Academy examines “The Hidden Symbolism in Shakespeare's Publications” and what they mean: An analysis of the symbols employed by printers, publishers and playwrights to adorn their books.

https://qudosacademy.org/2023/06/28/the-hidden-symbolism-in-shakespeares-publications/

Read and leave comments (2)

Shakespeare's knowledge and personal experience of the sea and maritime navigation is not only remarkable given he lived in the land-locked town of Stratford-upon-Avon and apparently never went to sea?

Qudos Academy investigates the facts and fallacies attached to Shakespeare's plays and poetry and how he came to know so much intimately about maritime navigation.

https://qudosacademy.org/202...

Read and leave comments (0)

A study in the so-called "Italianate Plays" of William Shakespeare reveals quite clearly that the author of "A Comedy of Errors", "The Merchant of Venice", "King Lear", "Othello" and many more besides was personally acquainted with the Italian dramatic school known as the Commedia d'elle Arte as well as the geographical region of the Po valley. And yet according to records "Shakspere" never left E...

Read and leave comments (0)

What can we determine about the personality, philosophy and religious views of the poet “William Shakespeare” solely from his poetry? Is it merely a myth or legend that he was the greatest poet that ever lived or the gretest literary fraud the world has ever known? Qudos Academy examines the context and style of the Bard’s poems for their sublime illumination and assesses how a rustic playwright a...

Read and leave comments (0)

The intriguing mystery and circumstances surrounding the apparent accidental death of Sir Christopher Marlowe which some scholars and academics have sought to unravel. Did Marlowe really die over the cost of a lunch or was this a state-sponsored assassination? Qudos Academy investigates the facts, the false accusations and the rumours in order to establish the truth.

https://qudosacademy.org/20...

Read and leave comments (0)

For a number of centuries Shakespearean academics have pondered over the identity of two people who strongly influenced his poems, namely the Sonnets published in 1609.The two in question were his secret muse and a young man known as the "fair youth", speculations have since run rife. Qudos Academy examines the enigmas and the scandal that might have rocked the "Bard of Avon".

https://qudosacad...

Read and leave comments (0)

Was the Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriosthesley the so-called “Fair Youth” referred to in some of Shakespeare’s Sonnets or was it someone else? Oscar Wilde was convinced he had found that "fair youth" but then realised he was a "red herring" and so the controversy over Shakespeare's sexuality continues to this day.

https://qudosacademy.org/the-fair-youth-of-shakespeares-sonnets/

Read and leave comments (0)

What is often ignored or overlooked by academics is the vast amount of occult and magical references in Shakespeare's plays and poetry to the art of astrology, alchemy and magic. Qudos Academy examines in detail the "Bard's" interest in Neo-Platonic Symbolism from the time.

https://qudosacademy.org/the-secret-alchemy-of-shakespeare/

Read and leave comments (0)

We have never/ had sex/ in a car/ or a train/

We have never/ made love/ on an aeroplane/

We’ve had sex/ in the shower/, for less/ than an hour/

We washed/ away pain./

We have/ always made/ love in the sun/, the wind,/

On white/, snow-capped slopes/ amidst/ the pouring rain/

We didn’t care/ for a bed/, we did not mind/

We were/ swept away./

In a moment/ of pleasure...

Read and leave comments (0)

If LOVE were simple then, for sure

We'd know the blessings it truly bestows:

We'd rid our life of sad refrains, begot of earthly woes;

Our wholesome love remaining ever pure.

When virtue lies in every thought and deed,

Or promise of a future time be met.

Then likewise your sweet kisses or your warm embrace

Would seal the bargain and, God speed,

There would be no cause ...

Read and leave comments (0)

Critical analysis of poetry may be useful for identifying what makes poetry work or what universal or subjective meaning we might construe from reading it. Aside from that constructive criticism and in-depth analysis should enable us to enjoy and appreciate the value of poetry in our lives even more and develop our intuitive and discriminative mind in terms of understanding what it means, or why w...

Read and leave comments (0)

You say; "What of Eros and of Strife?"

When, I have been the prophet of my life"

Composing stanzas and similitudes,

At sunset sadly disposed of the residues.

At dawn awoke somewhat censorious,

Worn down each day by some frail chorus

Of dour philosophic platitudes;

- With thoughts sublime and obscure moods.

Awoken by some passion or desire?

The maid below re-kindles ...

Read and leave comments (0)

The second part of the tragic but intriguing story of the life and troubling events of Mary Stuart’s life as the first and very last female monarch of Scotland.

https://qudosacademy.org/2022/05/09/the-true-lamentable-tragedy-of-mary-queen-of-scots-2/

Read and leave comments (0)

As part of my series "Shakespeare's She-Wolves" I am looking at the tragic but intriguing story of the life and troubling events of Mary Stuart’s life as the first and very last female monarch of Scotland.

https://qudosacademy.org/2022/04/29/the-true-lamentable-tragedy-of-mary-queen-of-scots/

Read and leave comments (0)

Qudos Academy investigates the prevailing attitude of Shakespeare towards those strong women in Elizabethan England who influenced his plays and poetry. Also a big shout out to all the strong women of Afghanistan and Iran, young and old who are peacefully protesting against a brutal and repressive regime who, under the auspices of religious doctrines are daily robbing them of their freedom to wear...

Read and leave comments (0)

Have been preoccupied with several articles related to Shakespeare Authorship and their relevance to today's thoughts on mental health, gender stereotypes and free speech. This week I ask: "What was the prevailing attitudes to deformity by Shakespeare and his contemporaries?" Qudos Academy examines Elizabethan attitudes to physical deformity and numerous references found in Shakespeare’s plays.

Read and leave comments (0)

After several years in exile during which time I have published my book "Shakespeare's Qaballah" in 2022 and an anthology of poetry ("Parthenogenesis") I am returning to Write Out Loud with a weekly blog highlighting my Wordpress Website (www.qudosacademy.org) where there are over 200 articles on a variety of subjects including:

Not Without Mustard (Screenplay Submission)
As part of promoting ...

Read and leave comments (0)