The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 15.0915 Wednesday, 21 April 2004
From: Ward Elliott <
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Date: Tuesday, 20 Apr 2004 23:19:46 -0700
Subject: 15.0903 Shakespeare Apocrypha
Comment: RE: SHK 15.0903 Shakespeare Apocrypha
Peter Bridgman wonders if any apocrypha plays pass the stylometric tests
and any folio plays do not pass.
Our tests say no and yes, respectively. I can't remember which of these
are in which folio, but many of the plays in the standard "Complete
Works" appear to be co-authored or other-authored: Henry VI, all parts;
Titus Andronicus; Pericles; Two Noble Kinsmen; Henry VIII. But most are
not. With our latest, most ruthless exclusion of questionable
Shakespeare plays from baseline, a core of 29 plays remains. None of
these have more than two rejections in 48 tests. No play by an
identified other author has fewer than ten rejections. No anonymous
play from our apocrypha list has fewer than seven rejections. The odds
of so many rejections coming from Shakespeare's hand by chance, by our
calculations, are vanishingly low. Here are the rejection totals for
some of our apocrypha plays:
Play Sh. Rejections
short name Full name
FVH5 16 Famous Victories of Henry V
TOAS 15 The Taming of a Shrew
IRON 12 Edmund Ironside
ARDN 10 Arden of Feversham
YRKI 14 The Contention of York, Part I
YRK2 17 The Contention of York, Part II
LEIR 8 King Leir
RCD3 15 the anonymous tragedy, Richard the Third
STMO 7 Sir Thomas More
EDW3 13 Edward III
KJN1 14 The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, Part
I
KJN2 16 The Troublesome Reign of John, King of England, Part
II
LOCR 22 The Lamentable Tragedy of Locrine
WOOD 20 Woodstock
MUCE 11 Mucedorus
OLDC 11 Sir John Oldcastle
CROM 13 Thomas Lord Cromwell
DEVL 11 The Merry Devil of Edmonton
PROD 16 The London Prodigal
PURN 19 The Puritan
YKSH 14 A Yorkshire Tragedy
MAID 22 The Second Maiden's Tragedy
FALS 11 Double Falsehood
FAIR 22 Fair Em
MERL 11 The Birth of Merlin
Yours,
Ward Elliott
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