Mr. William Shakespeare

Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the dust enclosed here: Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.

Almost four hundred years after Shakespeare's death there are 15 million pages referring to him on Google. There are 132 million for God, 2.7 million for Elvis Presley…

What’s in a name? About 1 million words total in all of his plays, poems and documents We have his name-actually signed-only 7 times… Of those 7 times he never spells his name twice the same way-and never spells it Shakespeare!

Happy Birthday! You dead! Born April 26 th 1564 Died April 23 rd 1616 St Georges day and the nature of Elizabethan birthdays… Stratford-Upon-Avon-Avon was the river that flowed through his town Pops was a glove-maker who later became mayor

Ok… start reading 38 plays (comedies, tragedies, histories) 154 sonnets (16 line “love poems” that take a decidedly dark turn) 2 epic poems (Rape of Lucrece, Venus and Adonis) Why was Shakespeare so prolific? Why did people love his work so much?

It’s a matter of Ejamakation. Shakespeare went to a very good elementary school in his hometown. There he would have learned Latin and Greek by translating famous works of literature An average Elizabethan audience member would have had about a 5 th grade education and would be somewhat familiar with the same stories… Thus Shakespeare incorporated those stories into his-which ensured a captive audience!

You kids and your movies… Many Elizabethaners may have even learned their history from Shakespeare’s Histories! Imagine if all you knew about America you learned from TV and movies… wait, isn’t that how you learned everything you know about America…? Uh,oh. We in trouble.

One last thought on this… There was also a political reason for his writing… Since royalty would have been verrrrrrry interested in the stage a good writer would need to level some encomium unto them by speaking well of those ancestors… Explains why Elizabeth and James LOVED our boy Bill Shakespeare.

Biness is Biness 1594 He has a stake in Lord Chamberlains Men which later became known as The King’s Men-BECAUSE… James allowed it (almost like having an endorsement deal with Obama!) 1599-built the Globe Theater and later purchased rights to Blackfriars Theater… Theater was definitely a profitable venture for him… seems he had little regard for preserving his work… hmm, more on that?

Fair is foul and foul is fair Seems our boy Bill had little regard for preserving his work… First Folio was produced in 1623 by Hemmings and Condel. Comprised of Rough Papers… noted and prompts used by the actual actors. Shakespeare himself never had any of his work published. The Folio was a sellable collection of his work…

What a handsome devil!

Actually… We really have no idea what he looked like. The image of William Shakespeare is based on a painting of a painted sculpture that had to be re-painted after it was accidentally stripped of the paint decades after he was already dead. Confused? No? Then you aren’t listening~!

What DO we know…? A good business man. During periods of plague or puritans, the theater was the first thing to go…. Sooo, Shakespeare found Patrons to support his creative work. A Patron is a wealthy individual who would provide financial assistance to artists, writers, sculptors, singers ect.

What a man what a man what a might good man! 1582-married Anne Hathaway In his will he left her “my second best bed” what a romantic! 6 months later they gave birth to their first child (oops!) Had 2 more (3 total). His son Hamnet dies very young- maybe the inspiration to write Hamlet.

Wait… that’s about it. From we have no idea what he was up to… Maybe… traveling actor sailor/soldier valet teacher Maybe he was on the run for poaching deer in the king’s forest! WHO KNOWS????

Useless Information! Between 1890 and 1891, an avid Shakespeare reader decided to bring to the United States all species of birds in Shakespeare's works that were not native to the U.S. One of these birds was the starling, a passerine (perching) bird. It is a destructive bird which ruins grain and fruit crops. The starling also takes over nests of other birds and mocks their songs when it sings.