Shake? William Shakespeare? Mulleary? Goethe? Henry Cuyler Bunner? Anonymous?
Dear Quote Investigator: While studying English in school I heard the following humorous rhyme about The Bard of Avon:
Shakespeare was a dramatist of note who lived by writing things to quote.
These words are from a longer poem, but I have not been able to locate it. Could you trace this phrase?
Quote Investigator: The full poem was titled “Shake, Mulleary and Go-ethe” and the subject was three famous literary figures: William Shakespeare, Molière (stage name of Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. It was published in the humor magazine Puck in 1880, and the author was listed as “V. Hugo Dusenbury”. But that name was a pseudonym for Henry Cuyler Bunner who was the long-time editor of Puck.
Below is the second stanza of the poem containing the lines about Shakespeare who was referred to as “Shake”. The author of the poem discussed busts of Shakespeare, Molière, and Goethe on top of a bookcase. The illustration that accompanied the piece is shown at the beginning of this article:[1]1880 January 28, Puck, Volume 6, Number 151, Shake, Mulleary and Go-ethe by V. Hugo Dusenbury [Pseudonym of Henry Cuyler Bunner], Page 762, Keppler & Schwarzmann, New York. (Google Books full … Continue reading
Shake was a dramatist of note;
He lived by writing things to quote.
He long ago put on his shroud:
Some of his works are rather loud.
His bald-spot’s dusty, I suppose.
I know there’s dust upon his nose.
I’ll have to give each nose a sheath–
Shake, Mulleary and Go-ethe.
Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.
Continue reading Shake Was a Dramatist of Note; He Lived by Writing Things to Quote