Excerpt from Shakespeare's Sonnet Story 1592-1598, Restoring the Sonnets Written to the Earl of Southampton to Their Original Books and Correlating Them With Personal Phases of the Plays of the Sonnet Period There are at present, and have been for some years past, two very divergent theories regarding the manner in which Shakespearean biography should be undertaken. Mr. J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps, who confined his efforts nearly altogether - especially during the last two decades of his life - to antiquarian research, and who, while attaining an authoritative standing in this capacity, has never been regarded as a critical authority by scholars, was the original exponent of one of these theories: which insists that it is hopeless to seek biographical light upon Shakespeare from his own works. In the preface to his Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare, without advancing any reason other than his opinion, he writes: "In the absence of some very important and unexpected discovery, the general desire to penetrate the mystery which surrounds the personal history of Shakespeare cannot be wholly gratified. Something, however, may be accomplished in that direction by a diligent and critical study of the materials now accessible, especially if determined care be taken to avoid the temptation of endeavouring to illustrate that history by his writings, or to decipher his character or sensibilities through their media... for it must surely be admitted that the exchange of the individuality of the man for that of the author is the very essence of dramatic genius, and, if that is so, the higher the genius the more complete will be the severance from the personality." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.