William Shakespeare (1564-1616)was an great English poet.He was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith.
When Shakespeare was about 20, he left his wife and children and went to London where he worked as an actor and playwright. His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. . He is noted for both “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece.” Most of his plays were not published, but were rather written down as tracts so the actors could memorize lines. So publication of the plays today is based on collected folios, and critics differ on when each play was published.
Many of the plays of Shakespeare were performed at the Globe Theater in London, and also private plays were given for royalty, notably Queen Elizabeth I and her successor, King James. It is thought Shakespeare spent 25 years in London before retiring to his home in Stratford on Avon, where he lived the remaining 5 years of his life.
Shakespeare wrote histories, comedies, and tragedies. Comedies ended with marriage, tragedies with death. The last class, the romances, are neither comedy nor tragedy.
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| Who is Shakespeare? |
Histories Henry VI, parts 1,2 and 3, Henry V, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, Henry VII, Henry VIII,King John, Richard II and Richard III .
Tragedies Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, Troillus and Cressida, Timon of Athens, Pericles, andCoriolanus,The Tragedy of Hamlet.
Comedies Alls Well That End’s Well, As You Like It, Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night,Comedy of Errors, Two Gentleman of Verona, Love’s Labours Lost, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming of the Shrew, Merchant of Venice, and Measure for Measure.
Romances A Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, and Tempest.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
Quotes of Shakespeare
To business that we love, we rise betime and go to't with delight.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
Modest doubt is the beacon of the wise.
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Cowards die many times before their death, the valiant never tastes death but once.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon then.
When valour preys on reason, it eats the sword it fights with.
Wise men never sit and wail their loss, but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.
All the world is a stage and all of us are but players in the theatre of life.
Dreams are toys. Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously, I will be squared by this.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice.
Modest doubt is the beacon of the wise.
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.
Cowards die many times before their death, the valiant never tastes death but once.
Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon then.
When valour preys on reason, it eats the sword it fights with.
Wise men never sit and wail their loss, but cheerily seek how to redress their harms.
All the world is a stage and all of us are but players in the theatre of life.
Dreams are toys. Yet for this once, yea, superstitiously, I will be squared by this.
