"According to Theodore Besterman’s A World Bibliography of Bibliographies, Lincoln is the fifth most written-about figure in human history, behind only William Shakespeare, the Italian poet Dante, the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and the Spanish novelist Miguel de Cervantes. (Jesus, surprisingly, came in 51st overall.) More ink has been used on Lincoln than on any other American, according to Besterman."
So writes Chris Bragg in the Colorado Statesman (Panel to Study Lincoln, Nov 28, 2008).
Lincoln himself was a big fan of Shakespeare. But really? Those other guys beat Lincoln? If it's about prose and poetry, did Lincoln not command the pen well enough for the world to notice? As if the beauty of the Gettysburg Address went unnoticed, perhaps this ditty would convince the world otherwise.
Abraham Lincoln is my name
And with my pen I wrote the same
I wrote in both haste and speed
and left it here for fools to read
