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Shakespeare Sonnets Solved, Award-Winning Author Claims
Published: Tue, 28 Jun 2005, 05:47 EDT
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By Aria C. Munro
Staff Writer, Publishers Newswire
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NYACK, NY - June 28 -- For nearly four centuries the Shakespeare sonnets of 1609 have posed the greatest puzzle in the history of English literature, but author Hank Whittemore claimed today that the age-old riddle has been solved. The solution, he said, is demonstrated in his new 900-page edition "The Monument: 'Shake-Speares Sonnets' by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford" (ISBN: 0-9665564-5-3, Meadow Geese Press), for which he will receive the Distinguished Scholarship Award of 2006 at the Shakespeare Authorship Studies Conference in Concordia University, Portland, Oregon.
"Once the intended picture is seen, the reader experiences a total paradigm shift that's truly remarkable," Whittemore said upon learning of the award today. "Shakespeare has been viewed as writing about a 'love triangle' in the 1590s involving Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton as the Fair Youth and a mysterious Dark Lady; but in fact the central story takes place during 1601-03, when Southampton was confined for treason in the Tower of London. The Dark Lady turns out to be Queen Elizabeth I of England, who was 'stealing' Southampton by keeping him in her prison."
"A key is Sonnet 107, known as the 'dating' verse for celebrating Southampton's release by King James in 1603, shortly after the Queen's death. Now, instead of an anomaly, this powerful sonnet becomes the high point of a continuous chronicle. And a key word is 'Time,' which translates into the diary's very real timeline according to Elizabeth's ever-waning life, reign and Tudor dynasty. This is a brand-new picture of the most intensely sustained poetical sequence the world has known. Replacing the old one, it opens a new era of Shakespeare research and study, bringing the literature and the history into alignment."
Another key is the "elegant structure" within the "monument" of the Sonnets, he said, citing "a central string of exactly 100 verses in chronological order." These sonnets "now come freshly alive as chapters of a suspense-filled political drama, created by an author who was 'tongue-tied by authority' and therefore had to leave behind his true account for 'eyes not yet created' in posterity."
Whittemore urged all Shakespeare lovers to visit www.ShakespearesMonument.com to learn more about "The Monument," which he described as "the first coherent explanation of all 154 sonnets ever presented, placing them in the correct historical context and thereby transforming each line according to the poet's true meaning."
Prof. Daniel Wright, Ph.D., director of the Shakespeare Authorship Studies Conference, confirmed the award and called Whittemore's analysis of the Sonnets "stunning and compelling."
Hank Whittemore grew up in Larchmont, NY and wrote a popular column for the Gannett-owned Westchester newspaper group. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he is the author of 10 previously published books including The Super Cops, CNN: The Inside Story, So That Others May Live and Your Future Self, in addition to dozens of cover stories for PARADE, the Sunday supplement.
His new edition of the Sonnets can be purchased online through http://www.ShakespearesMonument.com or at www.MeadowGeesePress.com or through www.Amazon.com.
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