Shakespeare Authorship Authors The Short List There’s Sir Francis ‘Shakespeare’ Bacon Whose works are now largely forsaken, Yet did he once write Some views erudite “On the Theatrical Art of Fakin’”? Or it’s obviously Edward de Vere If we would but persevere, The author whom Freud Believed fill the void Of that ghost by the family name Shakespeare. Our old friends Beaumont and Fletcher Coloured in Shakespeare’s sketches; He made the pastry They filled with tasty Cut-and-come-again fillings, I betcha. There’s that devilish Christopher Marlowe Wrote the lot from his villa in Como, Once the plot was hatched And he was dispatched Smuggled them home sans embargo. Or perhaps it was all Edmund Spenser, A man with top marks in Mensa, Kept plays in a drawer Of years a full score Then released one per year, each intenser.