Shakespeare, William - Life and Works

Shakespeare's life

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He studied at a grammar school and married Anne Hathaway when he was 18. They had three children. Around 1564, he moved to London and started working in a theatre company. He became famous not as an actor, but as a writer. During the plague in 1593, theatre closed, and a nobleman supported him.
When theatres reopened, he joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men and helped to build the Globe Theatre in 1599.
He wrote 37 plays and over 150 poems including comedies, histories and tragedies. Later, his company became the king's Men. Shakespeare retired in Stratford and died at 1616.

First Folio

In 1623, some of Shakespeare's friends published 36 of his plays in one book called First Folio. They divided the plays into comedies, tragedies, and histories, a choice that still influences how we see his work today.

His language

Shakespeare was very creative with language. He invented over 1700 new words by changing the form of words, combining new words and adding prefixes or suffixes. He also created many common phrases we still use today, like heart of gold, cold comfort and break the ice.

Background

Shakespeare probably wrote his sonnets in the 1590s, but they were first published in 1609 in a small book. The sonnets were dedicated to W.H. but nodobody knows for sure who that is. Many think it might be William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, because the First Folio was also dedicated to him. Even through we don't know about how the sonnets were written, they have inspired many poets and artists over the years.

Are they autobiographical?

We don't know if the poems show Shakespeare's real feelings, because we know very little about his personal life. It's not clear if the "I" in the sonnets is really Shakespeare. He seems to confuse the reader on purpose, making it hard to understand the true relationship between the poet and the two mysterious people, the sonnets are ritten to: the Fair Youth and the Dark Lady.

Rewriting Poetic History

Shakespeare's 154 sonnets are both traditional and new. He used the style of Eliebethan love poetry but also changed it in creative ways. At the time, sonnets were becoming less popular, so she showed both love for the form and a wish to renew it. He changed the sonnet's structure and language, using new metaphors that reflected the political and economic changes of his time. One important detail is that one of lovers is a man, which adds a deep and unusual view on gender and love.

The lovers

The first 120 sonnets are about an young man (called the Fair Youth). Shakespeare talks about his beauty, the pain of being far from him, the passing of time, and how poetry can make someone live forever. In the first 18 sonnets he tells the young man to get married and have children. The last 28 sonnets are about a woman(called the Dark Lady). She isn't very attracted to her.

Shakespeare VS Petrarch

Shakespeare changed the rhyme and structure of the sonnet, but his biggest change was in what he wrote about. Usually, love poems were written for women, but Shakespeare wrote love poems for a young man. When he wrote about a woman, the tone was often negative or unusual. His sonnets are also special because they explore deep emotions and human behovier.