William Shakespeare is one of the greatest writers ever. Although he lived some 400 years ago, his plays and poems are still read and performed all over the world.
He was born on 23rd April (or… thereabouts) 1564. He died when he was 52 … exactly … on 23rd April 1616. What a terrible 52nd birthday! (Actually, the exact birth date is not very certain, but it would have been shortly before his christening on 26th April).
Where did this amazing writer come from? How did he spent his childhood? What did he do when he was a young man? How much do we know about Shakespeare himself? The answer is: … not much!
We know he was born in Stratford upon Avon, a market town in the middle of England, in Henley Street (about two days from London by … horse!) This house is now the Birthplace Museum (and is furnished as it would have been in Shakespeare’s time)
We also know he was born into a wealthy middle-class family: his father, John, was a merchant who worked as a glove-maker 9but also traded in wool and timber), his mother, Mary came from a rich family and William probably worked with his father as a glove maker.
At the local grammar school (where middle class boys like William went) he studied maths, religion, literature and Latin.
At the age of 18 he married a woman called Anne Hathaway (8 years older than him!)They had three children, a daughter and twins (one of them, Hamnet, sadly, died at the age of 11). His wife stayed in Stratford looking after their children (she probably never saw his plays!). In his will Shakespeare left his wife his second-best bed (what happened to his first-best bed remains a mystery…)
In the 1580s, Shakespeare said goodbye to his family and set off to seek fortune in London. The sights and sounds of the bustling city had a big effect on his writing. While he was in London he wrote 37 plays (and performed in some of them as an actor himself!) If Shakespeare had stuck to glove-making, poetry (he wrote sonnets, mostly about love, which were considered more respectable than plays!) and acting, we’d probably have never heard of him – the plays are the reason why we remember him today. He wrote 10 comedies (mostly with happy endings), 3 so-called ‘Problem Plays’ (mainly comedies with unhappy endings), 10 Histories (about real people from the history of England), 6 Romances (comedies that aren’t really that funny) and 10 Tragedies (plays with lots of violence and deaths).
London at the time was a great place for a playwright because it had many theatres, including the Globe. In those days people loved going to the theatre as much as people love watching football matches today (sometimes audiences got rowdy – shouting rude comments or throwing apples if they got bored- and wanted to get involved in the action). But it was also a dangerous place plagued by religious conflict and the plague! The Lord Mayor and the Puritans saw theatres as a threat to law and religion and were always trying to close down the playhouses. Moreover, outbreaks of the terrible disease were so bad that the playhouses had to stay closed for over two years.
7 years after Shakespeare died (1623) his friends paid for a collection of his plays (36) to be published (known as the First Folio), without which great plays (such as Macbeth) would be lost forever. The ‘Authorship Question’ , whether Shakespeare (an uneducated glove-maker’s son) or somebody else produced such brilliant works arises partly because of the fact that no copies of the plays in Shakespeare’s handwriting have ever been found.
Today, Shakespeare’s plays still excite audiences of all nationalities. The plays have been put on in modern dress, as operas, musicals, ballets and films. But, apart from his plays his legacy lives on. In fact, many of his words and phrases have become part of our everyday lives. If you have ever tried to ’break the ice’ (strike up conversation with a stranger), gone on a ‘wild goose chase’ (a search for something that isn’t there), have a ‘heart of gold’ (being kind) or used words such as ‘hostile‘ (an unfriendly person), ‘lonely’, ‘ode’ (a lyrical poem), and many others, then you are using the words and phrases of the great playwright, the Bard, Shakespeare himself!
Visit my virtual museum for some more information on his life and works:
For a better look:
For younger children:
2 minute Shakespeare stories with comprehension activities
For interesting facts visit this site:
Shakespeare’s Birthplace trust
Watch a celebration of William Shakespeare with my favourite theatre group Dave’n’Luke (David Gibson & Luke Prodromou, along with David Crystal – Penelope Prodromou – Judy Boyle – Nick Michelioudakis, sponsored by the British Council & Global ELT)
