“The Bard of Avon”, English poet and playwright who wrote the famous 154 sonnets and numerous highly successful dramatic works.
1564, Born in Stratford-on-Avon,
1582 married to Anne Hathaway, a farmer’s daughter who is 8 years older than Shakespeare
1588-1592, in London as actor and playwright;
1592-1598, devotes himself mainly to chronicle histories and comedies;
1601-1609, period of the greatest tragedies and romantic comedies 1610, retires to Stratford; 1616, died and buried in Stratford Church.
Shakespeare’s Birthplace --He was born in this house on Henley Street in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, in April 23,1564.
Shakespeare’s Burial Site
He died on April 23 (his birthday) , 1616, and was buried in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
Tragi-comedies
The sonnet is a complete lyric consisting of fourteen iambic-pentameter lines. It includes two distinct types: the Italian or Petrarchan and the English or Shakespearean.
The Italian sonnet consists of two parts: the first eight-line part is called the octave, with a rhyme scheme of abbaabba; the second six-line part is called the sestet, with a rhyme scheme of cdecde.
Gradually the Italian sonnet pattern was changed. Since Shakespeare attained fame for the greatest poems of this modified type, his name has often been given to the English form of the sonnet.
The English sonnet is made up of three quatrains and a concluding couplet, with the rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. In the Shakespearean sonnet each quatrain deals with a different aspect of the subject and the couplet either summarizes the theme or makes a final, sometimes contradictory,