Journal Article

A Lover's Complaint revisited

Jackson, MacD.P

2004

Overview

In the 1960s, Kenneth Muir and MacD. P. Jackson independently argued that William Shakespeare was the author of \"A Lover's Complaint\" and had written it in the 17th century. Most scholars have accepted their case. However, research by the Claremont McKenna College Shakespeare Clinic, run by Ward E. Y. Elliott and Robert J. Valenza, has been casting fresh doubt on Shakespeare's responsibility for the sonnet. The pair evolved a variety of tests for Shakespearean authorship, starting with his undisputed plays and establishing, for each of the linguistic phenomena counted, a range within which rates of occurrence for any authentic play should fall. Elliott and Valenza then applied the methodology to Shakespeare's poems and concluded that \"A Lover's Complaint\" may have been written by someone else. Jackson examines the methodology and defends the sonnet's authorship, making connections to Shakespeare's dramatic works. He concludes that unless an alternative candidate whose work shows even more points of contact with the poem than does Shakespeare's can be found, authorship should stand.

• Publisher: Associated University Presses,Fairleigh Dickinson University Press
• Subject: Authenticity / Authorship / Elliott, Ward E Y / Linguistics / Literary criticism / Methods / Muir, Kenneth / Narratives / Poetry / Rhythm / Scholars / Shakespeare, William / Shakespeare, William (1564-1616) / Shakespearean Plays / Shakespearean Sonnets / Valenza, Robert J