> > > > Edward de Vere was a Duke who a lot of people think wrote Shakespeare... and after doing a
> > > > history paper on the subject, i agree wtih them... i'm not going to put all the reasons here,
> > > > though...
> > > >
> > > > uni"unless someone actually CARES..."peg
> > >
> > > Go on then...
> >
> > pardon me while i pull up my history paper and summarize all the points...
> > okay, just to provide some background info for those who don't know... the man everyone hears about when they're taught about Shakespeare (born in Stratford-on-Avon, actor in London, all that) was actually named William Shaksper... if I need to refer to that man, I'll say Shaksper...
>
> Hey. There are, what, 6 signatures of Shakespeare remaining that are thought to be authentic, no? And several of them have variant spelling on the last name; it isn't consistent. All the works date from a time when orthography really was not standardized.
>
>
> > [snippety]
> >
> > ... there are, of course, arguments against de Vere, but not many. i went on in my paper to say WHY the question was important... but i'm not going to go into that either. so that is why i believe shakespeare's plays were written by Edward de Vere, Duke of Oxford.
> >
> > uni"hey, you asked for it"peg
>
> Nay, I am gratified you went into it. A literary whodunnit with the Bard himself... Cool. I wouldn't mind knowing more "why" the question is important regarding his identity, insofar as Shakespearean scholars believe.
>
> Wolfspirit

i think (i'm not on the computer with my paper on it anymor - the modem on that one died an awful and tragic death. very sad) it's basically because Shakespeare has had such a huge impact on our language. if all the words that he invented were invented by a common man, that's like, woah, genius... but if they were invented by a educated man, that's not quite so amazing.... it just has to do with how much we revere Shakespeare as a genius... at least as far as i remember.

uni"then again, it COULD be.."