William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare, one of the best poets and playwrights in the English language, was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Many people like his writings and consider him one of the best writers in history, but some believe that he didn’t even write his plays and poems. His writing style has its own unique way of expressing what the characters’ emotions are. Although it was the common writing style in his time, he tweaked it to make it unique.
Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare and Mary Aden. He was probably educated at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford.. He had two older sisters, Joan and Judith, and three younger brothers, Gilbert, Richard, and Edmund. At age 18, he got married to Anne Hathaway, who was seven years older than him. He had one daughter and twins. His first daughter was Susanna, born on May 26, 1583. Two years later, February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith were born, but Hamnet died at age 11, unfortunately.
Shakespeare’s first plays were written in the common style of his days, with metaphors and extravagant phrases that didn’t always flow naturally with the story’s plot or characters, but Shakespeare adapted the traditional style to his own way of writing with a better flow of words. Shakespeare mostly used a blank verse, or lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter to write his plays.. His sonnets are written in iambic pentameter, which are a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable, except sonnet 145, which was written in iambic tetrameter, which are a line consisting of four iambic feet. In 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain’s, who was the most senior officer of the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, crew. In 1599 Shakespeare joined a group of Chamberlain’s men that would build and operate a new theater, the Globe, which became the most famous theater of that time. With his salary from the Globe, Shakespeare was able to buy New Place, his home in Stratford. Although the theater culture in 16th century England was not liked by people of high rank, but many nobles were good contributors to their artist and actor friends.