Reputation of William Shakespeare book-length prose poem exploring the role of the eye in the plays. In its original printing, a second volume consisting of a setting of "The Tempest" by the poet's wife, Celia Zukofsky was also included. The growth of Shakespeare's reputation is illustrated by a timeline of Shakespeare criticism, from John Dryden's "when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too" (1668) to Thomas Carlyle's estimation of Shakespeare as the "strongest of rallying-signs" (1841) for an English identity. Reputation of William Shakespeare In his own time, William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was rated as merely one among many
Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship The Nevillean theory of Shakespeare authorship attributes the work of William Shakespeare to the English parliamentarian and diplomat Sir Henry Neville (1562 – 1615). It was first proposed in 2005 by Brenda James and William Rubinstein in their book "The Truth Will Out". James had set the 144 letters of the dedication to "Shakespeare’s Sonnets" (1609) in a grid of 12 vertical columns of 12 letters and performed various manipulations to find the name "Henry Nevell", a name that was unknown to her. Further investigation led her to Neville, who as ambassador to France (1600–01)