William Shakespeare is the greatest of all playwrights and poets of all
times. Not much is known of his life. He was probably the son of a
businessman and was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He probably
attended the local grammar school and got a classical education. In 1582
he married Anne Hathaway and had 3 children. Little is known of his
life before 1592, when he appeared as a playwright in London. Soon he
became an actor playing supporting roles like the ghost in "Hamlet". In
1599 Shakespeare became a part owner of the Globe Theatre in London.
Shakespeare's work as a playwright is subdivided
into 3 periods. Written in the first period, Shakespeare's plays are
mostly history plays like "Henry VI", and comedies with strong elements
of farce. His masterpiece of this period is "Romeo and Juliet".
In the second period Shakespeare wrote a number
of comedies where he moved away from farce towards romance. In the third
period, after 1600, appeared his major tragedies - "Hamlet", "Othello".
They presented a clear opposition of order to chaos, good to evil.
Shakespeare was a great poet and would be well
known for his poetry alone. His major achievement as a poet is his
sonnets, first published in 1609. A sonnet is a poem consisting of 14
lines, with a moral at the end. The sonnets are addressed to some
"W.H.", and to mysterious "Dark Lady of Sonnets". The sonnets deal with
the great themes of love, friendship, death, change and immortality.
Shakespeare looks at his own poetry as a means of immortality.
Shakespeare's sonnets are excellent. They are full of harmony and music;
they praise love, friendship and beauty, though there is no
sentimentality in them.
Shakespeare's poetry is at the summit of human
achievement. Many centuries have passed since his death in 1616, but
Shakespeare is still considered to be the greatest of all playwrights
and poets.
2. Life of Shakespeare.
The great poet and dramatist William Shakespeare is often called by
his people "Our National Bard", "The Immortal Poet of Nature" and "The
Great Unknown". More than two hundred contemporary references to
Shakespeare have been located amoung church records, legal records,
documents in the Public Record Office, and miscellaneous repositories.
When these owe assembled, we have at least the sceleton out line of his
life, begining with his baptist on April 26, 1564, in Trinity Church,
Stratford-on-Avon, and ending with his burial there on April 25, 1616.
Shakespeare's native place was Sratford-on-Avon, a little town in
Warwickshire, which is generally described as being in the middle of
England.
Shakespeare's father, John, was a prosperious glove maker of
Stratford who, after holding minor municipal offices, was elected high
bailiff of Stratford. Shakespeare's mother Mary Arden, came from an
affluent family of landowners.
Shakespeare probably recieved his early education at the exellent
Stratford Grammar School, supervised by an Oxford graduate, where he
would have learned Latin smattering of Greek.
In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who lived in a neighboring
hamlet. The first child born to Ann and William was their daughter
Susanna. In about two years Ann bore him twins a boy and a girl, Hamlet
and Jidith.
Then life in Stratford became intolerable for William Shakespeare and
he decided to go to London and begin a theatrical career. Shakespeare's
major activity lays in the field of drama. He became a full shareholder
in his acting company, he was co-owner of "the Globe" theatre and later
of "the Blackfriars" theatre, and in 1597 he purchased property in
Strarford, including one of the largest houses in the town. He probably
retired about 1610, travelling to London when necessary to take care of
his theatrical business. In all, 154 sonnets were written. The sonnets
were probably created in the 1590 but were first published in 1609.
3. Shakespeare's works.
Shakespeare's literary work is usually divided into three periods.
The first period of his creative work falls between 1590 and 1600.
Shakespeare's comedies belong to the first period of his creative work.
They all are written in his playfull manner and and in the brilliant
poetry that conveys the spectator to Italy. Some of the first plays of
the first period are: "Richard III" (1592), "The Comedy of Errors"
(1592), "Romeo and Juliet" (1594), "Julius Caesar" (1599), "As You Like
It" (1599), 1600 - "The Twelth Night". Shakespeare's poems are also
attributed to the first period, "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucrece", and
154 sonnets. "Venus and Adonis" was the first of Shakespeare's works
that came off the press. The second period of Shakespeare's creative
work during from 1600 to 1608. His famous tragedies appeared at this
time. In the plays of this period the dramatist reaches his full
maturity. He presents great humans problems. His tragedies and
historical plays made Shakespeare the greatest humanist of the English
Renaissanse. Some plays of the second period: 1601 - "Hamlet", 1604 -
"Othello".
Shakespeare's plays of the third period are called the "Romantic
dramas". There is no tragic tension in these plays. This period lasted
from 1609 till 1612.
1609 - "Cymbeline", 1610 - "The Winters Tale", 1612 - "Henry 8".
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