3 MAY 1986, Page 23

Is it Shakespeare?

Sir: In rejecting Edmund lronside as non- Shakespearean because it lacks poetry, Dr Rowse (26 April) seem to have forgotten his own assessment of an 11-line sample I sent him in 1981: 'The speech you quote is rather good poetry, and rather like the rhythms of Shakespeare's earlier verse. . . . The similarity of images is striking too.'

Eric Sams

32 Arundel Avenue, Sanderstead, Surrey