Shakespeare’s Life1564-1616

The man behindthe legend

Childhood in Stratford-Upon-Avon

•Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon

•Parents John and Mary Arden Shakespeare

•Seven brothers and sisters•Grammar School from age 7

to 13

William Shakespeare’s Home

Marriage and Life in London•1582 at age 18 married Anne

Hathaway •1592 (28 years old) went to

London▫actor and playwright▫first accused of borrowing

from other playwrights•1592-1594 Plague

Shakespeare Prospers

•1598 built Globe Theatre▫Owned shares in it

•Father granted a coat-of-arms ▫Gentlemen

•Recognized as a genius in his own time

Honored as Actor and Playwright•Queen Elizabeth dies in 1603•King James I takes the throne

▫Shakespeare’s Theatre company becomes the King’s Company

•Member of famous writer’s group (Mermaid Tavern)

Death and Burial at Stratford

•1610 retired from theatre▫1613 Globe theatre burns down

lost much money but still wealthy helps rebuild Globe theatre

▫Dies on April 23, 1616 at age 52

Shakespeare‘s Grave

Secrets of the Sonnets•154 Sonnets, 60 songs•Love, broken trust of

friend, loss of love, forgiveness

•friend, dark lady, rival poet

The defining features of the English or Shakespearean Sonnet 1. it is a quatorzain made up of 3 quatrains and ending in a rhymed couplet.2. metric, written in iambic pentameter. Sometimes the opening line of the

sonnet begins with the first foot, a trochee before the poem falls into a regular iambic pattern.

3. composed with the volta (a non physical gap) or pivot (a shifting or tilting of the main line of thought) deep into the poem, varied but always well after the 2nd quatrain.

4. developed so that each quatrain progresses toward a surprising turn of events in the ending couplet. The epiphany of the poem arrives in a swift leap at the end.

5. rhymed with up to 7 rhymes with a rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.6. composed with an ending rhymed couplet which should be declamatory and

the defining feature of the sonnet. This couplet is often the loudest, most powerful part of the sonnet.

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Difference between italian and english sonnet

The difference is in their structure - both have fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, but they are organized in different ways.

A Petrarchan (also called an "Italian") sonnet, is composed of an octave (eight lines) followed by a sestet (six lines). The rhyme scheme of the octave is typically abbaabba (this is easy in Italian because so many words end in suffixes like "-ello" or "-etto"). The octave sets up the problem of the sonnet, which might be something like the brevity of a lifetime or the transience of beauty. The sestet has its own rhyme scheme, and there are several acceptable patterns (cdcdcd, cdecde, to name a couple). The sestet resolves the problem set up in the octave - if the problem is the transience of beauty, perhaps the solution is that the person's beauty will live on in the poem. The change in tone between the octave and the sestet is called a turn, or a "volta."

The Shakespearean (also called an "English") sonnet is composed of four quatrains (of four lines each) and a concluding couplet (two lines). The rhyme scheme is as follows: abab cdcd efef gg. Each quatrain serves to develop an element or a facet of the problem. For example, a sonnet about the transience of beauty might have one quatrain about the beloved's charms, one comparing her to the seasons, and one about how she will eventually die. The couplet solves the problem of the quatrains, just as the sestet solves the problem of the octave in Petrarchan sonnet. The volta traditionally occurs between the third quatrain and the couplet. Because you have to solve the problem in two lines, the couplet tends to be particularly witty and significant

Shakespeare’s Four Periods•First Period- Apprenticeship (Age

26-30)•Second Period- Mastered his art!

▫Favorite “Romantic Comedy”•Third Period- Problem of Evil in the

World•Forth Period- Creates a new drama

form▫“Tragicomedy” or the dramatic

romance