Was Shakespeare a Woman? A few thoughts

Elizabeth Winkler set the world ablaze with her article Was Shakespeare a Woman in The Atlantic Monthly. A few key points.

1. The article is probably the best-written piece ever on the Shakespeare Authorship Question. It's also incredibly accurate in the details; I can't really quibble with the factual accuracy of anything in the article.

2. The reaction to the article has been fascinating to watch. The "big names" in Shakespeare apologetics have largely remained silent or dismissed it casually. They've figured out that defending Shakespeare, since their defense is so weak, doesn't help their cause. Better to just dismiss attacks rather than engaging.

3. The evidence for Emilia Bassano Lanier (Lanyer)'s authorship is extremely light. In fact, there's  really no reason at all to think she wrote the works of Shakespeare. The evidence about her family names appearing in the plays certainly could be something real, but it doesn't imply authorship. She really was too young to have written the plays/poems and lived way too long after. In addition, her poetry just isn't like Shakespeare's. There's no way the author of Shakespeare's works wrote these poems in 1611.

4. Obviously, I think that Henry Neville wrote the works of Shakespeare, so I don't think a woman wrote the works of Shakespeare. However, it is very likely that Henry Neville's wife, Anne Killigrew Neville, was in some ways involved in the works of Shakespeare. We will probably never know all of the details, but she was a highly educated woman and may have played a substantial role.