orably told in Leonard Cotfrell`s book, The Bull ofMinos (1953

prove his case. He had taught himself both modern and ancient Greek so that he
could read Homer in the original, and, knowing large tracts of Homer's poems
by heart, he set out to prove that the Poet's Word spoke the historical truth.
There is no need for me here to describe the thrilling discovery of what proved
to be one of the richest archaeological finds ever made, which has been so memorably told in Leonard Cotfrell's book, The Bull ofMinos (1953).
It matters little now that Schliemann erroneously believed that the golden
death-mask he found at Mycenae and called 'the Face of Agamemnon' was
later proved to be of an even earlier date than the Trojan War was then calculated; nor is it of exclusive sigrrificance that Schliemann's work has since been
superseded by the immense research of the classical scholar Iman Wilkens, the
Dutchman whose revolutionary relocation of Homer's world to Western Europe
is presented in his fascinating book, Where Troy Once Stood (L990). Man's discoveries advance in ways that are often tortuous and uneven, outdating what
had been accepted to make a new leap in the unravelling of scientific knowledge about our world and universe, or rolling back the mists of time. This does
not invalidate the process of our progress. Wilkens, like Schliemann, relied on
the detailed descriptions given by Homer, but in a far wider sense, not merely of
Troy, but of the topography of the entire setting of the lliad and the Odyssey,
which does not fit the Aegean, but is precisely found in Western Europe where
it is supported by the profusion of etomological remains of Homer's ancient
place-names. These names were only long after the Trojan War transferred by
the migration of Western European tribes to Greece, just as their familiar placenames have migrated with the peoples who crossed the Atlantic to settle in the
New World or travelled south to Australia. Both Wilkens and Schliemann took
Homer's poetry literally as their trusted guide to produce exciting results shedding light on different aspects of the ancient Homeric epic; both open to debate
and controversy, but each contributing something inspiring and historically
important for us to consider.
Both these seekers after the historical truth of Homer's epic story trusted the
inherent historicity of the Poet's Word to make their amazing discoveries.
Schliemann added to the history of archaeology one of its richest, most exciting
and romantic chapters by believing that Homer, though a poet, was describing
real historical events. Wilkens consolidated this by trusting the Poet's Word as
an accurate description of the topography of his familiar world to esablish the
real site of Priam's Troy and to trace the homelands of the Achaean warriors
who made common cause to attack it; and by dauntlessly sailing in the wake of
Odysseus he uncovered the heartland of the Celtic mystery cult from which the
Greek pantheon derived. These Homeric explorers have added a new criterion
ofjudgement in historical research by taking the Poet's Word as their reliable
guide to discovery.
ii
I purpose to do the same. When our Poet writes of his 'outcast state' and of
'large lengths of miles' that separate him from his friends, and exhorts the recipient of his sonnets, 'Do not so much as my poor name rehearse', I take it that he
means exactly what he says, and is not merely indulging in poetic rhetoric. This
is not to say that he makes no use of poetic conventions, or employs none of the
artifices of his art.
The hyperbole of poetic imagery of the time abounds in the flattering and
evocative use of language in praise of a patron, which rarely means literally
what it says. It is for us to ponder when the Poet is to be taken literally, and
when he is embellishing his poems to enhance their beauty and their emotive
power in an imaginative, a-literal use of words, without losing our way and mistrusting him when he is telling us the literal truth.
The genius of men like Schliemann and Wilkens lies in that they did not
allow their minds to be misled by the element of fairytale and imagination in
poetry, so that the historical facts embedded in Homer's epics were not
obscured. They saw clearly what others did not see. With them I place Leslie
Hotson, who also attuned his ear to the Poet's Word, applying this method in the
light of what the Elizabethan language really meant, to discover the identities of
'Mr.W.H.' and the Dark Lady. I have only had to adjust his sights, which are
bound by his orthodox academic preconceptions, in order to focus them to
reveal the true sonnet-story, which presents a seamless and coherent account of
our poetdramatist's life with clearly recognisable persons and events.
This is an historic record as is any diary. It is this precision and certitude of
factual historic evidence matching these poems that alone led me on to research
ever further as the story unfolded. Testing every poem in the entire sonnetsequence with the relevant facts, step by step, the chronological confusion as
presented in Thorpe's cryptic edition gradually gave way to the correct chronological sequence of the poems to reveal the moving autobiographical story that
has lain for so long obscured and misunderstood in the 'Riddle of the Sonnets',
a story that is as amazing as it is inspiring.
In essence, this is an historical detective story which is as great a drama as
any play that Shakespeare wrote. It poses the solving of several historical
conundrums besides the solution of the cryptic dedication of the Sonnels to the
mysterious 'Mr.W.H.' and boldly delves into the problems raised by those puzzling, dark sonnets that speak insistently of disgrace, anonymity, exile and personal hurt, for which orthodoxy can offer no explanation. It asks hitherto
unasked, potentially revealing questions, almost all of which have been
answered with gratifying certitude. The reader is invited to test these personally, sonnet by sonnet.
This revolutionary thesis is not an end, but a new beginning, presaging a
surge ofeager research on Shakespeare to follow up the many clues here uncov-
llt