Presenting Shakespeare

Facts About Shakespeare: True or False

William Shakespeare lived from 1564-1616. True! Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1564. Shakespeare died in 1616 from unknown causes. To John and Mary Shakespeare Died at age 52

Shakespeare never married. False! Married Anne Hathaway in November of 1582.

Together, the couple had three children: Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith. Anne was around 25-26 years old at the time of the marriage. Shakespeare was around 17-18.

During Shakespeare’s time, people who wrote plays were considered to be literary experts and were respected. False! Poets were highly respected and were seen as intellectual.

Shakespeare’s first play is believed to be King Henry the Sixth, Part One. True! This play was written around 1589-1590.

Shakespeare never published any of his plays. True! His fellow actors posthumously published his work. John Hemmings and Henry Condell in 1623

Shakespeare also wrote sonnets. True!

Sonnets Sonnets are lyric poems that are fourteen lines long Every other line rhymes for lines 1-12. Lines 13 and 14 are a couplet and these lines rhyme.

Sonnets Sonnets are traditionally written in iambic pentameter. The rhythm sound like a heartbeat. The unstressed/stressed pattern sounds like, “da DUM, da DUM, da DUM”.