1. Is the dedication in a Yes, obviously. format in terms of one or more of language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, positioning of text, font size or type and so on? 2. Is this accidental or It must be deliberate; it can hardly be accidental. deliberate? 3. Is this non-standard format There is no apparent artistic purpose to the format, so there merely artistic fancy (a matter of must be some other reason. visual design) or something else? 4. What other reason? Clearly, the non-standard format of the dedication is intended to convey something to the reader. 5. What is it intended to convey Well, it must be a message of some sort and since that to the reader? message is not expressly stated, it is hidden. We are therefore looking at a hidden (secret) message. 6. What sort of hidden Clearly, something which cannot be stated openly, unless message? the hidden message is entirely frivolous. This excludes one obvious message, namely a message that the author is Shakespeare since this is stated openly on the title page. 7. So, what sort of thing cannot I can think of only two types of possible hidden message; be stated openly? one concerning the identity of the author, the other concerning the identity of people addressed or referred to in the Sonnets (such as the 'fair youth' and the 'dark lady'). The hidden message could concern either or both. These two things are connected in the sense that revealing one of them might also reveal the other.
1. Is the dedication in a format in terms of one or more of language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, positioning of text, font size or type and so on? Yes, obviously. 2. Is this accidental or deliberate? It must be deliberate; it can hardly be accidental. 3. Is this non-standard format merely artistic fancy (a matter of visual design) or something else? There is no apparent artistic purpose to the format, so there must be some other reason. 4. What other reason? Clearly, the non-standard format of the dedication is intended to convey something to the reader. 5. What is it intended to convey to the reader? Well, it must be a message of some sort and since that message is not expressly stated, it is hidden. We are therefore looking at a hidden (secret) message. 6. What sort of hidden message? Clearly, something which cannot be stated openly, unless the hidden message is entirely frivolous. This excludes one obvious message, namely a message that the author is Shakespeare since this is stated openly on the title page. 7. So, what sort of thing cannot be stated openly? I can think of only two types of possible hidden message; one concerning the identity of the author, the other concerning the identity of people addressed or referred to in the Sonnets (such as the 'fair youth' and the 'dark lady'). The hidden message could concern either or both. These two things are connected in the sense that revealing one of them might also reveal the other.