-

 


Did you know:

Shakespeare left his wife his “second best best” ……….On his death, Shakespeare made several gifts to various people but left his property to his daughter, Susanna. The only mention of his wife in Shakespeare’s own will is: “I gyve unto my wief my second best bed with the furniture”. The “furniture” was the bedclothes for the bed.

Shakespeare died on his birthday. ………. William Shakespeare’s burial at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford upon Avon is documented as happening on 25th April 1616. In keeping with traditions of the time it’s likely he would have been buried two days after his death, meaning Shakespeare likely died 23rd April 1616 – his 52nd birthday.

Shakespeare put a curse on his grave. ……….Shakespeare penned a curse for his grave, daring anyone to move his body from that final resting place. His epitaph was:


Though it was customary to dig up the bones from previous graves to make room for others, the remains in Shakespeare’s grave are still undisturbed.

Widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.  He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon".

His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

 

First Folio

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, and these are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.

 By 1598, Shakespeare was a prominent and very well-known figure in the theater scene, and his name began to be published on the front page of local papers. Though an owner of the Globe, Shakespeare continued to act in his own productions, his name appearing in newsprint up until 1623 as either producer or actor in his productions. Throughout his time as actor and playwright, Shakespeare continued to visit home in Stratford-upon-Avon (and after his family began moving to St. Helen's, Southwark and to an area north of St. Paul's Cathedral) and see his wife and children.


Shakespeare's Globe Theater

 

Building Great Collections, One Fine Book at a Time

Visit us at BlindHorseBooks.com

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
 Today in Literary History: BIRTH OF G. K. CHESTERTON (1874 – 1936)   G.K. Chesterton was a fascinating figure in literary history, known for his wit, intellect, and prolific writing career a lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apologist. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox."      Time magazine has observed his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out."       Chesterton's writing had a significant impact on various literary figures, including J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Both Tolkien and Lewis credited Chesterton's works as influential in their own writings and philosophical development. Did You Know.....  ..... Chesterton was a large man, standing at around 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) tall and weighing over 300 pounds He had a...
Read more
-
Image
 TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY: April 19 Welsh writer Richard Hughes (1900 – 1976) was born Richard Hughes was brought up in the West Indies in Jamaica and only wrote only four novels, the most famous of which is The Innocent Voyage (1929), or A High Wind in Jamaica, as Hughes renamed it soon after its initial publication.   Set in the 19th century, it explores the events which follow the accidental capture of a group of English children by pirates: the children are revealed as considerably more amoral than the pirates (it was in this novel that Hughes first described the cocktail Hangman's Blood, recipe below). During 1938, he wrote an allegorical novel In Hazard based on the true story of the S.S. Phemius that was caught in the 1932 Cuba hurricane for 4 days during its maximum intensity. He also wrote volumes of children's stories, including The Spider's Palace, plays and poetry.   A High Wind in Jamaica was made into a film of the same name in 1965. The book was initially ...
Read more
-
Image
TODAY IN LITERARY HISTORY April 24 1905 Birth of Robert Penn Warren, Novelist, America’s First Poet Laureate. He is the sole individual to have earned Pulitzer Prizes in both fiction and poetry. His novel All the King's Men (1946) garnered him the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, while he received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in both 1958 and 1979. Warren's work spans both poetry and prose, and his ability to excel in both fields sets him apart. His poetry, characterized by its intellectual depth and emotional resonance, earned him two Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry (1958, 1979). As a novelist, his most famous work, All the King's Men (1946), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1947 and is considered one of the greatest American novels. The novel’s exploration of political corruption and moral ambiguity remains a key text in American literary studies. Warren was one of the founding figures of New Criticism, a dominant literary movement in the mid-20th century. This approach ...
Read more