As more people accept the likelihood that the Earl of Oxford published his plays and poems under the name of "William Shake-Speare," we have the wonderful opportunity of studying the early works written by de Vere, either anonymously, or under other pseudonyms. This book explains why the most important Elizabethan guide to rhetoric--the art of writing well-- was probably written by Edward de Vere. It also presents evidence attributing several anonymous Elizabethan poems to Oxford. This second edition includes two new chapters. The first presents extensive evidence that the young Oxford was the true translator of Ovid's Metamorphoses. This is a translation that is widely acknowledged as one of the top four literary sources for Shake-speare. The other new chapter shows the young Oxford's intense interest in rhetoric--also the art of persuasion--by presenting evidence that he was the real translator into English of another Latin work: Johann Sturmius's treatise on rhetoric. In both these chapters, I examine Oxford's use of what he once called "the figure of twins"--hendiadys, a particular sort of word pair that is used more often by Shakespeare than by any other Elizabethan authors (think "slings and arrows," "sound and fury," etc.).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard M. Waugaman, M.D. is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and 2012-2016 Faculty Expert on Shakespeare for Media Contacts at Georgetown University. He is also Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; and Training and Supervising Analyst, Emeritus at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. He received his A.B. from Princeton, where his senior thesis on Nietzsche and Freud was supervised by Walter Kaufmann. He received his M.D. from Duke. His 170 publications include 70 articles, book chapters, and book reviews on Shakespeare and the psychology of pseudonymous authorship. Most of his Shakespeare publications are available at his websites— http://www.oxfreudian.com; and http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/waugamar/
