The Significance Of William Shakespeare English Literature Essay

“To be or not to be” is one of William Shakespeare’s most well known quotes. It is part of his famous play Hamlet. Shakespeare is one of the most easily identified poem writers. He is known for his incredible writing style. He expressed this using Iambic pentameter which would mean each line has 10 symbols, and they would all go in a pattern. He invented almost 1,700 common English words and phrases that we use today.

William Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 in the Shakespeare family home on Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon. John and Mary Shakespeare were William Shakespeare’s mother and father. He was the third child of eight. However, the first two were daughters that died before he could remember. John Shakespeare sold farm products and wool. Both Mary and John Shakespeare had a high position in the community and had roles in their community. As a kid, William Shakespeare was sent to the highest level of elementary education at a school which was called Petty School. These schools were not like today’s schools. Instead, they were usually held in someone’s house and were taught by a very well educated house wife. The children were also taught good behavior and a Christian way of life. These were the most important part of the education. He then went to grammar school, where he had to attend school from 6 in the morning to 5 at night. In grammar school he was taught by a private usher. The grammar school used the horn-book and the alphabet as a tool and for the basis of Elizabethan education. William’s life was pretty strict he had to be polite and do a lot of chores around the house. Shakespeare’s school consisted of five full days and one half day each week. He spent between 40 and 44 weeks of the year at school. That means he spent about 2,000 hours in school each year, which is double the amount of time we spend in school.

He started writing poems when he was in school. William did not intend for his poems to be published or even read. However, his poems were published and have become some of the most famous poems in the English language. In William’s day, there was not much to do for entertainment there. William had few books to read, and he didn’t care for puppet shows. William moved to London where he hoped to become an actor. He then started writing plays. As most people would think that William Shakespeare wrote his own plays, he did have help from others. One man that helped him in his works was, was born to a well-to-do family but as a young man he needed employment to support himself. He did not do so well at first; however he soon created a partnership with Francis Beaumont that became his whole career. Beaumont and Fletcher created a new genre of drama called tragicomedy, which he described as not being a tragedy play. He described it as being a play that brought the characters so close to death that it could not be a comedy, but a mixture of both.

Together with Beaumont, Fletcher developed a new genre of drama: the tragicomedy, which he defined as not being a tragedy, for it wanted deaths, and yet bringing some characters so close to death that it could not be a comedy, but a mixture of both. It was this style of play that he began to write with Shakespeare toward the end of Shakespeare’s career.

Read more at Suite101: Two of Shakespeare’s Collaborators: Who Helped William Shakespeare Write His Plays? http://www.suite101.com/content/two-of-shakespeares-collaborators-a196151#ixzz10rkyrFqO

John Fletcher was Shakespeare’s heir and his assistant Thomas Middleton. Middleton was born to a wealthy bricklayer and was educated at Oxford. In his early years he started to write poetry. He wrote a reproduction of Shakespeare called The Ghost of Lucrece. Middleton’s most successful plays were The Revenger’s Tragedy, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, and A Game at Chess. As a young man Middleton spent a lot of his time working for the king’s men as William Shakespeare’s assistant. Shakespeare got some music and ideas from Middleton’s writings.

William Shakespeare published his first poem, “Venus and Adonis,” in 1593. In 1594 he begins to write his sonnets. Later he will have accomplished to write around 154 sonnets in his life time. Between those two years he wrote The Rape of Lucrece, Titus Andronicus and The Taming of the Shrew. 1595 was a big year for Shakespeare; he composed Richard 2 and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However the most memorable moment for Shakespeare that year was Romeo and Juliet, which was thought to have been composed for a wedding. Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story of all time. William worked for the London Theater for around 15 or 20 years. He wrote 37 plays in his career, and all of his works are the most recognized in literature. William wrote all kinds of plays including comedies, histories, tragedies, and poetry. Shakespeare performed all his plays for the king and queen then was usually performed by the king’s men. William took his works all over and performed them, for example Hamlet and Richard III were performed aboard the British ship Dragon off the west coast of Africa at Sierra Leone. Some of Shakespeare’s comedies are A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Winter’s Tale. His histories and tragedies included; Richard III, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet.

All of this works that Shakespeare written have affected the literary world so much that without him we would not have the English we know today. He has given me so much advice on writing and he is a great influence on the American literary. A lot of his popular sayings like “to be or not to be” are important to me because I use them when I talk sometimes. However most important I like saying them and just talking in the old English language like Shakespeare. Shakespeare is different for other writers because he has special qualities that no other writer. For example he has written plays in perspectives that no one has ever looked at it before. The classic sonnet consists of two short sections of eight and six lines. The Shakespearean or English sonnets also has 14 lines in total, but is divided into three quatrains. The effect of this is to create a different mood from that of a Petrarchan sonnet. He has affected more people than any other writer. William took play writing very seriously, he took his writings to the stage and acted them out himself.

William Shakespeare is a fantastic poem and play writer. His plays have stood the test of time. I think William had a rough life but he pulled through it and did something he loved to. I admire his ambitions and want to be like him. I don’t want to be a writer however I would like to fallow his way he fallows his dreams. Williams’s novels are inspiring to others however they don’t strike me that much except for the way he writes. He does it in a way that you can think deep and reflect on wow it could connect to you. I think William should have written more plays because they are the most popular of anything he did which is my opinion of course. Shakespeare should have announced his writings when he was young. This is my view of Shakespeare.