William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was one of the most influential people of all time, he lived a very meaningful life and his work reflected that.

Influence

Quote # 1: “Since his death Shakespeare's plays have been almost continually performed, in non-English-speaking nations as well as those where English is the native tongue; they are quoted more than the works of any other single author” (“William” 10).

Commentary:

Shakespeare's work has an appeal to non-English and English speaking nations because of its "complex characters and eloquent speech".

Quote # 2: “The strength of Shakespeare's plays lies in the absorbing stories they tell, in their wealth of complex characters, and in the eloquent speech—vivid, forceful, and at the same time lyric—that the playwright puts on his character's' lips. It has often been noted that Shakespeare's characters are neither wholly good nor wholly evil, and that it is their flawed, inconsistent nature that makes them memorable.” (“William 3”)

Commentary:

There is many key factors in Shakespeare's work that allow for an appeal by people to quote and use his work. He has very complex characters, and he doesn't in a way include characters that are the "villains" or the "heroes". They are just neutral which forces for a more complicated story with more space for different interpretations. Since his work is so complex it has influenced English work in the present to take after his style in making the reader think; and creating unique work.

Quote # 3: "Sometimes playwrights influence the shape and form of a theater, but more often existing theaters seem to influence the shape and form of plays. It is important that we understand Shakespeare's theater because it influenced how he wrote his plays. Shakespeare took the theater of his time, and he used it brilliantly." ("Anderson 778")

Commentary:

This quote talks about the way theater and current work influences other work. Shakespeare recreated the way theater was executed, most people of his time had never seen anything like that before, which also caused him to be very influential himself. Not only did he influence theater of his time, he also influenced theater all the way to today. In our lives today you probably have been influenced by Shakespeare in some way.

Life

Quote # 1: “While little is known of Shakespeare's boyhood, he probably attended the grammar school in Stratford, where he would have been educated in the classics, particularly Latin grammar and literature. Whatever the veracity of Ben Jonson's famous comment that Shakespeare had "small Latine, and less Greeke," much of his work clearly depends on a knowledge of Roman comedy, ancient history, and classical mythology.” (“William, 6”)

Commentary:

One main thing that is known about Shakespeare's childhood is that he attended the grammar school in Stratford. This is a very important piece of his life because without his education he wouldn't have been able to have as much of a successful life. His success is due to his knowledge of Roman Comedy, Ancient History, and Classical Mythology.

Quote # 2: “In 1594 Shakespeare became an actor and playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company that later became the King's Men under James I. Until the end of his London career Shakespeare remained with the company; it is thought that as an actor he played old men's roles, such as the ghost in Hamlet and Old Adam in As You Like It.” (“William 5”)

Commentary:

Shakespeare's career took many different and diverse paths during his lifetime. In 1594 he became an actor and playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men. This I believe is what began his career as an actor and further developed his writing career whether it was with poetry, and plays.

Quote # 3: “During his last eight years, Shakespeare was the sole author of only three plays— Cymbeline, The Tempest, and The Winter’s Tale. He collaborated with John Fletcher, another English dramatist, in writing three more plays.” (“Lander 2”)

Commentary:

Even in his latest years in life, Shakespeare manages to still impact the world of English. He did this by writing 6 more plays in his last 8 years! He wrote 3 of them by himself and collaborated with John Fletcher in writing the rest. Even though he had help for the last 3, this is still an iconic achievement by one of the most influential people of all time

Quote # 4: “He is the most famous writer in the world, but he left us no journals or letters, he left us only his poems and his plays.” (“Anderson 776”)

Commentary:

William Shakespeare's achievements speak for themselves. His influential life left traces of his influential nature. He created a lot of work that has been carried on and interpreted probably thousands of times after his career ended. He didn't leave traces for us to know even more about his life, all we have is his poems and letters and that is enough because his work speaks and tells almost a biography of his life.

Work

Quote # 1: "The chronology of Shakespeare's plays is uncertain, but a reasonable approximation of their order can be inferred from dates of publication, references in contemporary writings, allusions in the plays to contemporary events, thematic relationships, and metrical and stylistic comparisons" ("William 4”).

Commentary:

One of Shakespeare's many forms of famous and amazing work are his plays. Shakespeare has written many plays and that is why is very well known for being a playwright. Some of his most well known plays are "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hamlet".

Quote # 2: "Shakespeare's sonnets are by far his most important nondramatic poetry. They were first published in 1609, although many of them had certainly been circulated privately before this, and it is generally agreed that the poems were written sometime in the 1590s. Scholars have long debated the order of the poems and the degree of autobiographical content.

The first 126 of the 154 sonnets are addressed to a young man whose identity has long intrigued scholars" (“William, 8”)

Commentary:

Another form of Shakespeare's many pieces is poetry, more specifically his sonnets. A sonnet is a type of poem with a single, complete thought that is comprised of 14 lines and is usually being in strict or Italian form. These were the types of poems or poetry Shakespeare was more famous for. No one for sure knows exactly what order all of his poems were written in or the degree of his content and it might always be unknown.

Quote # 3: “Throughout the 1590s, Shakespeare met continued success as a dramatist.” (“Baker, 1”)

Commentary:

Another thing that added to Shakespeare's success was his role as a dramatist. As a dramatist he had one the most successful period of his life. And what he did impacted many Authors and playwrights in the future.

Works Cited

Anderson, Robert. “Shakespeare and His Theater: A Perfect Match.” Holt Literature & Language Arts: Mastering the California Standards: Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, by G. Kylene Beers et al., Austin, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 2003, pp. 778-80.

Baker, William. “Shakespeare, William.” In Baker, William, and Kenneth Womack, eds. The Facts On File Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2012. Bloom’s Literature.

Lander, Jesse M. “Shakespeare, William.” World Book Advanced. World Book, 2016. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Robert. “William Shakespeare’s Life: A Genius from Stratford.” Holt Literature & Language Arts: Mastering the California Standards: Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, by G. Kylene Beers et al., Austin, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 2003, pp. 776-77.

“William Shakespeare.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (2016): 1-4. History Reference Center. Web. 30 Nov. 2016.