Shakespeare's first published work.

Unlike Marlowe, Shakespeare had chosen not to leave London, but rather had chosen to stay and put the finishing touches to his first published work, Venus and Adonis. It is with this poem that we begin to reveal how Shakespeare's own life is revealed in his writing, for he dedicates the work thus:

To the right honourable Henry Wriothesley Earl of Southampton, and baron of Titchfield. Right Honourable, I know not how I shall offend in dedicating my unpolished lines to your lordship, nor how the world will censure me for choosing so strong a prop to support so weak a burden. Only if your honour seem but pleased, I will account myself highly praised and vow to take advantage of all idle hours until I have honoured you with some graver labour. But if the first air of my invention prove deformed I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather and never after hear so barren a land for fear it yield me still so bad a harvest. I leave it to your honourable survey, and your honour to your heart's content which I wish may always answer your own wish, and the world's hopeful expectation. Your honours in all duty. William Shakespeare.

This dedication is the earliest appearance in printed form of the name William, Shakespeare. Furthermore since we have no surviving letters that were actually written by William Shakespeare, it provides us with a rare instance of Shakespeare speaking directly to somebody as opposed to speaking to the world through his poetry. And finally because of the man who he has dedicated, Henry Wriothesley - the third earl of Southampton, it gives us the opportunity to lift the veil over a period of Shakespeare's private life where we can now get as close as is possible to the true story of Shakespeare in Love.

Given that the closure of the theatres due to plague had cut off his livelihood for the foreseeable future, it is fair to assume that the up and coming playwright was in dire need of financial support. By dedicating some well chosen lines to the Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare was hoping for some financial benefit - a gratuity maybe?

Henry Wriothesley - the third earl of Southampton was just nineteen years old when the poem dedicated to him was first published. His father had died in 1581 and he had become a ward of court, under the tutelage, the guardianship of Elizabeth's first minister Lord Burleigh. When he was seventeen, Burleigh determined that he should marry his own grand-daughter - Lady Elizabeth Vere. By the time he was nineteen for some reason, Southampton had baulked at the prospect and was determined not to marry her, despite the fact that his mother the Countess Mary was in favour of the union. She wanted her son to marry - her son was reluctant to do so. Who could she possibly turn to persuade him?