William Shakespeare

1. William Shakespeare • -Born 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon • -Playwright and poet • -Known as the greatest writer in the English language • -Known for his 38 plays and 154 sonnets • -Plays are translated into every major language and are performed more than all other plays • -His plays, which scholars called the First Folio, are categorized as either a: comedy (Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew, Tempest, MidsummerNight’s Dream) tragedy (The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear) history- told history of England

2. -Left school at age 15 to work and help father financially -At age 18 married Anne Hathaway (26) and had three kids -7 years are a mystery to Shakespeare scholars who call them the “lost years” -At age 21 began career as an actor, writer, and part owner of a group of actors called the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later known as the King’s Men -His plays were performed in London in 1592 -1599 the Globe theatre was built -Shakespeare took partnership in an indoor theater which lead to his wealth -He purchased the second largest house in Stratford called New Place -Retired in Stratford around 1613 -Very little is known about the details of his life

3. Sonnet= -a poem of 14 lines -usually in iambic pentameter -rhymes scheme (pattern) is either Italian or English

4. Italian form: 8 lines (the octave) followed by a minor group of 6 lines (the sestet) On His Blindness by Milton When I consider how my light is spent (a) Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, (b) And that one talent which is death to hide, (b) Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent (a)To serve therewith my Maker, and present (a) My true account, lest he returning chide; (b) "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" (b) I fondly ask; but Patience to prevent (a)That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need (c) Either man's work or his own gifts; who best (d) Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state (e)Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed (c) And post o'er land and ocean without rest; (d) They also serve who only stand and wait." (e)

5. English form: 3 quatrains followed by a couplet***SHAKESPEARE*** Let me not to the marriage of true minds (a)Admit impediments, love is not love (b)Which alters when it alteration finds, (a)Or bends with the remover to remove. (b)O no, it is an ever fixed mark (c)That looks on tempests and is never shaken; (d)It is the star to every wand'ring bark, (c)Whose worth's unknown although his height be taken (d)Love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks (e)Within his bending sickle's compass come, (f)Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, (e)But bears it out even to the edge of doom: (f)If this be error and upon me proved, (g)I never writ, nor no man ever loved. (g)

6. Soliloquy • A speech that a character gives when he or she is alone on stage. • Its purpose is to let the audience know what the character is thinking.

7. Aside • A character’s remark, either to the audience or to another character, that others on stage are not supposed to hear. • Its purpose is also to reveal the character’s private thoughts. • A stage direction, usually in brackets or parentheses, indicates when an aside is being made.

8. Blank Verse • A form of poetry that uses unrhymed lines in iambic pentameter. • Shakespeare’s plays are written largely in blank verse.

9. Iambic Pentameter • Lines that have five unstressed syllables, each followed by a stressed syllable. • The pattern is not perfect, and occasionally there are breaks in the pattern. "trapeze" is an example of an iambic pair of syllables ("tra—peze") and is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable, "tra—PEZE", rather than "TRA—peze"

10. More LIGHT, you KNAVES! and TURN the TAbles UP, And QUENCH the FIRE, the ROOM is GROWN too HOT. Let TWO more SUmmersWIther IN their PRIDE, ere WE may THINK her RIPE to BE a BRIDE.

11. Try It! • But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,Who is already sick and pale with grief,That thou her maid art far more fair than she:

12. Allusion • A brief reference, within a work, to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know. This is why we study the Elizabethan Era!

13. Shakespeare Translations: • ‘tis- it is thee- you • ‘twas- it was hither- here • thine- your thou art- you are • thou wert- you were an- if • ay- yes coz- cousin • doth- does ho- hey • I would- I wish lest- unless • ere- before

14. Shakespeare’s Originals!

15. Romeo + JulietPrologue Two households, both alike in dignity,  In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,  From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,  Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes  A pair of star-crossed (doomed) lovers take their life;  Whose misadventured piteous overthrows  Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.  The fearful passage of their death-marked love,  And the continuance of their parents' rage,  Which, but (except) their children's end, naught (nothing) could remove,  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;  The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

16. Two households, both alike in dignity, a In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, b From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, a Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. b From forth the fatal loins of these two foes c A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; d Whose misadventured piteous overthrows c Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. d The fearful passage of their death-marked love, e And the continuance of their parents' rage, f Which, but their children's end, naught could remove, e  Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; f The which if you with patient ears attend, g What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. g