Take it from Shakespeare, give it to Ford

A mistake has been recently corrected. The scholar, who has been corrected, turned out to be so magnanimous that he even managed to rejoice about his more lucky colleague. However, books of collected works will have to be reprinted anyway.

In 1995 professor Foster came to conclusion that a short poem of 578 lines “A Funerall Elegye” of the unknown author was actually written by Shakespeare. The detailed computer analysis that was conducted by the professor seemed to be so convincing that New York Times considered that research as the largest literature discovery of the century.

However, Foster has recently rejected his own discovery. The same newspaper published a long article, in which it was said that Foster acknowledged his scientific mistake. “A Funerall Elegye” will have to be withdrawn from the list of Shakespeare’s works.

The scholar and his assistant professor Abrams announced that the computer analysis that they performed had drawbacks, which were found by French specialist in Shakespeare, G.D. Monsarrat. The second object of his research (after William Shakespeare) was English poet John Ford (1586-1640).

The French scholar successfully proved that the poem in dispute was written by John Ford, so the poem would be included in Ford’s works, not in Shakespeare’s.

In his address to the American Shakespeare society, Foster said: "I know good evidence when I see it"—and thus, on the basis of Mr. Monsarrat’s evidence, he withdrew the attribution, conceding that "the Elegy looks like the work of the Jacobean dramatist John Ford." Professor Abrams said that Monsarrat’s evidence was complete and final.

Elena Kiseleva PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov