The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1678  Saturday, 1 October 2005

From: 		Bill Arnold <
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Date: 		Thursday, 29 Sep 2005 20:03:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: 16.1653 Dark Lady et al
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1653 Dark Lady et al

Robert Projansky, "Re the identities of the sonnets' Dark lady and Young 
Man, I have a little experience in such identity research, although it 
was pretty far  a field...So, did the Young Man in her poem ever exist? 
I have no idea, but imagine trying to find out in 2405 who he was."

 From a scholar's point of view, it depends upon how famous the author 
becomes and (a) what's in her poem which identifies the Young Man and 
(b) if there is corollary evidence out there scholars care to dig 
through and dish up the dirt they find.  Having worked in journalism, 
for a few newspapers and tabloids, and having written a book delving 
into your question only about who was The Master behind the poems of 
Emily Dickinson, I can say that trying to establish autobiographical 
links in an author's work is an art and not a science, and it varies 
from case to case just as in law.  In the case of Will Shakespeare, we 
have evidence here on SHAKSPER that the question is open and much in debate.

Bill Arnold
http://www.cwru.edu/affil/edis/scholars/arnold.htm

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