Shakespeare

6th form

Shakespeare (also spelled Shakspere, known under the sobriquets of ‘Bard of Avon’ or ‘Swan of Avon’) – the English poet, dramatist, and actor, is often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.

Shakespeare’s position in world literature is unique. His plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries for a small repertory theatre, are now performed and read in more countries than ever before. Shakespeare’s contemporary, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson, said that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time,” and it turned out to be true.

Shakespeare is a writer of great intellectual and poetic power. He is clever with words and images, Shakespeare’s artistic merits can safely undergo translation into other languages and into cultures remote in time and space from that of Elizabethan England.

The parish register of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon shows that he was baptized there on April 26, 1564; his birthday is traditionally celebrated on April 23. His father, John Shakespeare, was engaged in various kinds of trade. His mother, Mary Arden, came from an ancient family and inherited some land.

Stratford enjoyed a grammar school of good quality, and education there was free. (No lists of the pupils who were at the school in the 16th century have survived.) A boy’s education at that time consisted mostly of Latin studies. This meant learning to read, write, and speak the language fairly well and studying some of the classical historians, moralists, and poets.

Shakespeare did not go to university. At age 18 he married Anne Hathaway of Stratford – where and when exactly, it is not known, but their marriage licence was issued on November 27, 1582. (Anne died in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare.) The next date of interest is found in the records of the Stratford Church, where a daughter, named Susanna, born to William Shakespeare, was baptized on May 26, 1583. On February 2, 1585, twins were baptized, Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died 11 years later.

Shakespeare’s next eight years or so, until his name begins to appear in London theatrical records, are obscure. There are stories, which appeared long after his death, of stealing deer and getting into trouble with a local magnate, Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, near Stratford; of working as a schoolmaster in the country; of going to London and minding the horses of theatre-goers.

How Shakespeare’s career in the theatre began is unclear, but from 1594 he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s company of players (since 1603 called the King’s Men). They had the best actor, Richard Burbage; they had the best theatre, the Globe (open by the autumn of 1599); they had the best dramatist, Shakespeare. It is no wonder that the company prospered. Shakespeare became a full-time professional man of his own theatre and for 20 years devoted himself fully to his art, writing more than a million words of poetic drama of the highest quality.

He died on April 23, 1616. No name was inscribed on his gravestone in the chancel of the parish church of Stratford-upon-Avon. Instead these lines appeared:

Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.

Shakespeare’s family or friends, however, were not content with a simple gravestone, and by 1623 a monument was erected on the chancel wall.

New Words:

Questions for Discussion and Activities:

1. Is the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson right, saying that Shakespeare “was not of an age, but for all time”? Can you prove it?

2. How do you understand this statement: “Shakespeare is clever with words and images?”

3. Shakespeare’s merits can safely undergo translation into other languages and into cultures remote from that of Elizabethan England – translate the sentence into Russian and explain the meaning of it.

4. Put all possible questions to the sentences:

– The boy’s education at that time consisted mostly of Latin studies.

– His father, John Shakespeare was engaged in various kinds of trade.

– Shakespeare’s family or friends were not content with a simple gravestone.