Eberhard zeidler biography of william shakespeare
Their first performance for the monarch was "As You Like It. The bard was growing artistically during this era, customizing his mastery of blank verse with wit and intention to enrich his characters' dialogue and enliven the action. He employed such techniques as run-on lines and inflected phrasing to breathe life into a poetic form that tended to the monotone if used within strict parameters of ten syllables per line and alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.
The dialogue of his play "Hamlet," for example, seems animated in comparison to the more strictly patterned lines of earlier works such as "Henry V. During the first decade of the 17th century, Shakespeare published his "Sonnets," a collection of line works that employed the same blank verse format as his plays but with the specific rhyme scheme of three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
Released as a printed collection inShakespeare's sonnets had likely been written individually over time, and those within his circle of friends were probably already familiar with some of them. The form the bard employed for his verses became known as the Shakespearean sonnet, as opposed to the traditional Petrarchan sonnet, which consists of an octet and a sestet.
In his last plays, "Cymbeline," "A Winter's Tale," and "The Tempest," the bard test-drove a hybrid genre, the tragicomedy, also known as the romance. While they take a more somber, serious tone than such comedies as "Twelfth Night," these tragicomedies end on a positive note, unlike such tragedies as "King Lear. By the time they reopened inShakespeare had already retired to his family home in Stratford where he died in at the age of While no verified version of the manner of his death exists today, one account, written by the vicar of Stratford 50 years later, attributes his untimely demise to drinking too hard with his friends John Drayton and Ben Johnson, and catching a fatal fever as a result.
Due in part to the great gaps in knowledge regarding Shakespeare's early education and the lost years, the bard has always been shrouded in mystery. In addition, not a single manuscript he wrote in his own hand survived the centuries. One scholarly explanation for this lack of historical verification is that "William Shakespeare" was the pen name of some more illustrious, well-educated figure of the Elizabethan era.
The controversy did not see the light of day until more than two centuries after the bard's death. Among the first to question the authorship of such all-time great works as "Macbeth" was a Pennsylvanian Lutheran named Samuel Schmucker, and he was merely drawing an analogy. Lewis, however, suggest that he purchased the malt as an investment, since he later sued a neighbour, Philip Rogers, for an unpaid debt for twenty bushels of malt.
Shakespeare had established himself in Stratford as the keeper of a great house, the owner of large gardens and granaries, a man with generous stores of barley which one could purchase, at need, for a price. In short, he had become an entrepreneur specialising in real estate and agricultural products, an aspect of his identity further enhanced by his investments in local farmland and farm produce.
Shakespeare's biggest acquisitions were land holdings and a lease on tithes in Old Stratford, to the north of the town. Boehrer suggests he was pursuing an "overall investment strategy aimed at controlling as much as possible of the local grain market ", a strategy that was highly successful. The town clerk Thomas Greene, who opposed the enclosure, recorded a conversation with Shakespeare about the issue.
Shakespeare said he believed the enclosure would not go through, a prediction that turned out to be correct. Greene also recorded that Shakespeare had told Greene's brother that "I was not able to bear the enclosing of Welcombe". It is unclear from the context whether Shakespeare is speaking of his own feelings, or referring to Thomas's opposition.
Shakespeare's last major purchase was in Marchwhen he bought an apartment in a gatehouse in the former Blackfriars priory ; [ 84 ] The Gatehouse was near Blackfriars theatre, which Shakespeare's company used as their winter eberhard zeidler biography of william shakespeare from The purchase was probably an investment, as Shakespeare was living mainly in Stratford by this time, and the apartment was rented out to one John Robinson.
Robinson may be the same man recorded as a labourer in Stratford, in which case it is possible he worked for Shakespeare. He may be the same John Robinson who was one of the witnesses to Shakespeare's will. Rowe was the first biographer to pass down the tradition that Shakespeare retired to Stratford some years before his death; [ 86 ] but retirement from all work was uncommon at that time, [ 87 ] and Shakespeare continued to visit London.
In he was called as a witness in the Bellott v Mountjoy case. In June Shakespeare's daughter Susanna was slandered by John Lane, a local man who claimed she had caught gonorrhea from a lover. Susanna and her husband Dr John Hall sued for slander. Lane failed to appear and was convicted. From November Shakespeare was in London for several weeks with his son-in-law, Hall.
In the last few weeks of Shakespeare's life, the man who was to marry his younger daughter Judith — a tavern-keeper named Thomas Quiney — was charged in the local church court with " fornication ". A woman named Margaret Wheeler had given birth to a child and claimed it was Quiney's; she and the child both died soon after. Quiney was thereafter disgraced, and Shakespeare revised his will to ensure that Judith's interest in his estate was protected from possible malfeasance on Quiney's part.
Shakespeare died on 23 April the presumed day of his birth and the feast day of St. George, patron of Englandat the reputed age of No extant contemporary source explains how or why he died. After half a century had passed, John Wardthe vicar of Stratford, wrote in his notebook: "Shakespeare, Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting and, it seems, drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted.
Shakespeare was survived by his wife Anne and by two daughters, Susanna and Judith.
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His son Hamnet had died in His last surviving descendant was his granddaughter Elizabeth Halldaughter of Susanna and John Hall. There are no direct descendants of the poet and playwright alive today, but the diarist John Aubrey recalls in his Brief Lives that William Davenanthis godson, was "contented" to be believed Shakespeare's actual son.
Davenant's mother was the wife of a vintner at the Crown Tavern in Oxfordon the road between London and Stratford, where Shakespeare would stay when travelling between his home and the capital. A monument on the wall nearest his grave, probably placed by his family, [ 95 ] features a bust showing Shakespeare posed in the act of writing.
Every year, on his assumed birthday, a new quill pen is placed in the writing hand of the bust. He is believed to have written the epitaph on his tombstone. Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here. Blest be the man that spares these stones, And cursed be he that moves my bones. Contents move to sidebar hide.
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Eberhard zeidler biography of william shakespeare: Professor Eberhard Zeidler has set
Wikidata item. This is the latest accepted revisionreviewed on 9 January The Chandos portraitbelieved to be Shakespeare, held in the National Portrait Gallery, London William Shakespeare was an actorplaywrightpoet, and theatre entrepreneur in London during the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. Family origins [ edit ]. Boyhood and education [ edit ].
Marriage [ edit ]. Lost years [ edit ]. Shakespeare myths [ edit ]. Later speculation [ edit ]. London and theatrical career [ edit ]. Business affairs [ edit ]. Later years and death [ edit ]. See also: Shakespeare's will. William Shakespeare 's family tree. Direct ascendants and descendants of William Shakespeare are shown with a blue background.
Shakespeare's siblings are shown with a red background. Anne Hathaway and ascendants are shown with a yellow background. People related to Shakespeare only through marriage are shown with a green background. Relations whose identity is not known are shown with a dashed border. Years given are usually approximate and typically reflect baptismal and burial years, rather than birth and death.
For remarriages, the number in parentheses after the name indicates the order of the marriages. Sources Chambers, E. Oxford: Clarendon Press. I 11—12, 18, Vol. II 8—9. OCLC Schoenbaum, S. ISBN See also [ edit ]. Notes and references [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. The personal life of William Shakespeare is somewhat of a mystery. There are two primary sources that provide historians with an outline of his life.
One is his work, and the other is official documentation such as church and court records. However, these provide only brief sketches of specific events in his life and yield little insight into the man himself. No birth records exist, but an old church record indicates that William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, Shakespeare was the third child of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local heiress to land.
John held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. Eventually, he recovered somewhat and was granted a coat of arms inwhich made him and his sons official gentleman. John and Mary had eight children together, though three of them did not live past childhood. Their first two children—daughters Joan and Margaret—died in infancy, so William was the oldest surviving offspring.
Anne died at age 7, and Joan was the only sibling to outlive William. He attended until he was 14 or 15 and did not continue to university. The uncertainty regarding his education has led some people question the authorship of his work. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small village a mile west of Stratford. Shakespeare was 18, and Anne was 26 and, as it turns out, pregnant.
Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on May 26, Two years later, on February 2,twins Hamnet and Judith were born. Hamnet died of unknown causes at age One theory is that he might have gone into hiding for poaching game from local landlord Sir Thomas Lucy. Another possibility is that he might have been working as an assistant schoolmaster in Lancashire.
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Bythere is evidence Shakespeare earned a living as an actor and a playwright in London and possibly had several plays produced. Early in his career, Shakespeare was able to attract the attention and patronage of Henry Wriothesley, the Earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first and second published poems: Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece Scholars broadly categorize the sonnets in groups based on two unknown subjects that Shakespeare addresses: the Fair Youth sonnets the first and the Dark Lady sonnets the last The identities of the aristocratic young man and vexing woman continue to be a source of speculation.
Some sources describe Shakespeare as a founding member of the company, but whatever the case, he became central to its success. Duncan-Jones compiles evidence to suggest that Shakespeare was less the untutored genius of romantic legend and more a social climber who was interested in material gain. Greenblatt and Potter analyze his canon for clues about his personal life, drawing data from his characters and plot devices.
Ackroyd, Peter. Shakespeare: The Biography. New York: Nan A. Talese, Bate, Jonathan. New York: Random House, Bevington, David. Shakespeare and Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, A useful resource for those interested in the history of Shakespearean biography, which outlines the issues that have been the focus of several biographies of Shakespeare, including politics, religion, and familial relationships.
Duncan-Jones, Katherine.