OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Monday
SOUTH African scientists believe the source of William Shakespeare’s powerful imagery was drug-induced – and they plan to check the bard’s pipes in the hope of finding traces of cannabis.
Researchers are now investigating whether the secret of the Bard’s creativity was his dope smoking, according to the Independent on Sunday.
Pipes found at Shakespeare’s home in Stratford-upon-Avon, central England, are being tested for traces of the drug, the paper said.
Dr Frances Thackeray, head of palaeontology at the Transvaal Museum in Pretoria, South Africa, believes there is evidence of Shakespeare’s drug habit in his work, the paper said.
Thackeray points to the Bard’s use of complex imagery of darkness and mental journeys as evidence of drug-induced visions, according to the Independent.
In a paper written for the Shakespearean Society of Southern Africa, he said: “There are very few literary scholars who have recognised the potential link between Shakespeare and hallucinogenic stimuli.
“A close reading of his sonnets and some other lines suggests that he was aware of them and may have experienced the effects himself.” He added: “This project has Stratford agog.”
Thackeray and a colleague, Professor Nick van der Merwe, have asked Pretoria police laboratories to analyse the contents of several clay pipes retrieved from New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare lived until his death in 1616.
Cannabis was first cultivated in England in 400 AD and in the 16th and 17th centuries was commonly used to produce hemp for ships’ ropes and canvas.