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1564–1616. Circa 1600, English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616). (Photo by Stock Montage/Getty Images) While William Shakespeare’s reputation is based primarily on his plays, he became famous first as a poet. With the partial exception of the Sonnets (1609), quarried since the early 19th century for autobiographical ...
- Overview
- Life
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, when he was 18. They had three children: Susanna and twins Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet died at the age of 11.
Read more below: Shakespeare the man: Life
How many plays did Shakespeare write?
There is some dispute about how many plays Shakespeare wrote. The general consensus is 37.
Read more below: Chronology of Shakespeare’s plays
First Folio
Although the amount of factual knowledge available about Shakespeare is surprisingly large for one of his station in life, many find it a little disappointing, for it is mostly gleaned from documents of an official character. Dates of baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials; wills, conveyances, legal processes, and payments by the court—these are the dusty details. There are, however, many contemporary allusions to him as a writer, and these add a reasonable amount of flesh and blood to the biographical skeleton.
Britannica Quiz
Signature. William Shakespeare ( c. 23 [a] April 1564 – 23 April 1616) [b] was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. [4] [5] [6] He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon " (or simply "the Bard").
Jul 9, 2024 · William Shakespeare - Poetry, Sonnets, Plays: Shakespeare seems to have wanted to be a poet as much as he sought to succeed in the theatre. His plays are wonderfully and poetically written, often in blank verse. And when he experienced a pause in his theatrical career about 1592–94, the plague having closed down much theatrical activity, he wrote poems. Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape ...
Shakespeare published two long poems, among his earliest successes: Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece in 1594. These poems were dedicated to his patron the Earl of Southampton. Venus and Adonis was Shakespeare's first-published work. Modelled after the Roman poet Ovid, it is a re-telling of the classical myth: Venus, the goddess ...
Oct 3, 2011 · William Shakespeare (1564-1616), considered the greatest English-speaking writer in history and England’s national poet, has had more theatrical works performed than any other playwright.
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Apr 2, 2024 · William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor of the Renaissance era. He was an important member of the King’s Men theatrical company from roughly 1594 onward. Known throughout ...
