William+Shakespeare

Hola, this is the one and only page about William Shakespeare. If you want to learn about Shakespeare, keep reading. If you have better things to do, then you may dramatically run away backwards. If you have no idea what I just said, Queen Bloody Mary should know. Anyways, read on!

<-- This is William Shakespeare. I //totally// dig his hair.

William Shakespeare, also know as the Bard of Avon, was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire in Great Britain on April 23, 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. Shakespeare went to his local grammar school, most probably King's New Grammar School in Avon to begin his education at age 7. When he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who was 26 at the time. He had 8 children, including his oldest daughter Susanna, and the twins Judith and Hamnet. His only son Hamnet died at age 11. Nobody is certain why he died, but is was most likely by Bubonic plague, which was common at the time. In between 1589 and 1590, William Shakespeare wrote his first play, //Henry VI, Part One.// This play was believed to be performed at the Rose Theatre in London. Sometime after Hamnet and Judith were born, Shakespeare left Stratford. No one is sure where he went, but records say he turned up in London in 1592. (That period was called William's "Lost Years") S hakespeare then devoted years of his life to Queen Elizabeth, who attended many of his plays. He wrote many of his most famous dramas during this time. He was also a member of Queen Elizabeth's court. When Shakespeare passed away on April 23, 1616, he left his possesions for his only live heirs, his daughters, Susanna and Judith. During his lifetime, he wrote many famous plays like //Romeo and Juliet//, //Hamlet//, //TheTempest//, //Henry VI,// //Winter's Tale//, //A Midsummer Night's Dream//, //Much Ado About Nothing//, and //Othello//. Shakespeare's sonnets are also world famous.

Here is one of William Shakespeare's famous sonnets, Sonnet 18.

//Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade Nor lose possesions of that fair thou owest; Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou growest: So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this and this gives life to thee.//

Shakespeare wrote a total of 37 plays and 154 sonnets, and would be classified as a writer 

 In case you don't know already, Bubonic plague, also known as "The Black Death", was transmitted by rodents and fleas. The outbreak started in the early 1330s and kept reccuring throughout the Middle Ages. By 1335, one third of Europe's population was a victim of "The Black Death". 25 million people were killed in only 5 years.


 * Famous Quotes of William Shakespeare:**

"Neither a borrower nor a lender be." "To be, or not to be: that is the question." "This above all: to thine own self be true." "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." "Off with his head!" "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?" "Love is blind, and lovers cannot see." "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is!" "He will give the devil his due." "Et tu, brute!" "The course of true love never did run smooth."

William Shakespeare also invented many words and phrases like: Assassination Accused Addiction Amazement Bandit Cater Champion Flawed Lonely Mimic Negotiate Puke Rant Summit Torture What the dickens? Worthless Zany

Here are some great websites if you want to learn more about Shakespeare:  http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761562101/Shakespeare.html http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/shakespearebio.html http://www.buffalostate.edu/universitycollege/x620.xml http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/faq/faq.htm [] []

And some about Bubonic plaugue: http://www.themiddleages.net/plague.html http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/bubonicplague/a/111602.htm



Here is a picture I took of Shakespeare's house in Stratford-upon-Avon during my trip to Europe. I would post more, but I wasn't having a very good hair day :D