Is this William Shakespeare or not?

Question

A scholar has discovered a sonnet that he believes to be by Shakespeare, although it’s now attributed to a little-known writer named William Smith (who wrote sonnets when Shakespeare was writing sonnets—during the 1590s). Argue pro or con whether you think Shakespeare wrote this sonnet:

The hound by eating grass doth find relief,
For being sick it is his choicest meat:
The wounded hart* doth ease his pain and grief
If he the herb dictamion** may eat:
The loathsome snake renews his sight again:
When he casts off his withered coat and hue:
The sky-bred eagle fresh age doth obtain
When he his beak decayeth doth renew.
I worse then these whose sore no salve can cure,
Whose grief no herb, nor plant nor tree can ease,
Remediless I still must pain endure,
Till I my Chloris’ furious mood can please;
She like the scorpion gave to me a wound,
And like the scorpion she must make me sound.

*hart = red deer; stag
**dictamion = dictamnum creticum, an herb with magical healing powers. A hart, for example, could eat dictamion and then expel from its body a hunter’s dart.

Answer 1

Definitely not Shakespeare - didn't even realise that it had ever been mistaken as Shakespeare.

It's a section (Sonnet 19) from William Smith's poem called " 'Chloris' or 'The Complaint of the Passionate Despised Shepherd'"... but I don't think a scholar discovered it - it was printed at the end of the 16th century, so has been around for quite some time.

Sometimes William Smith has been confused with another writer of the same time who was called Wentworth Smith... and some of Wentworth Smith's plays were at one point thought to have perhaps been written by Shakespeare. So maybe that's why the scholar thought this could have been by Shakespeare?

Even if this poem had just been discovered, I don't think I would take it to be Shakespeare's writing.Firstly, the inclusion of Chloris' name would be very unusual, since Shakespeare's sonnets are addressed to anonymous listeners. Secondly, it would really surprise me if Shakespeare ended on a half-rhyme. Thirdly, line 11 breaks from the stresses that are normally seen in iambic pentameter - and Shakespeare tended to be pretty precise with that sort of thing... Also, the final couplet doesn't provide the reader with the normal 'twist' or 'punchline' that you normally get with a Shakespearean sonnet...

So, that's why I don't reckon it's Shakespeare!

Answer 2

Is this a test or homework?



O.K. I read the first two lines and decided it was not Shakespeare. Tell me you came to the same conclusion.



Just reading Shakespeare makes your eyes feel wider apart. You say, My God! That is it! This doesn't do that, call it intuition if you want.

Answer 3

i say it is not shakespeare but very close to his technique.