William Shakespeare Influences

For nearly 400 years, the writings of one William Shakespeare have impacted and influenced a plethora of literary writers and entertainment creators all over the world. Although not a whole lot of information is known about Shakespeare, his influence has continued to be felt to this day through his writings. Sadly, Shakespeare would never live to see the glut of admiration and praise his writings received, due to his plays becoming extensively popular following his death on May 3, 1616. Shakespeare had a great deal of influence in so many different ways, however, the focus will just be on three primary areas of influence. The first area in which Shakespeare was influential was in his distinctive style of writing, and how he told stories. Secondly,
Shakespeare was pivotal in how language was used, as well as the usage of poetry and symbolism in his writing. Finally, the writings and stories of William Shakespeare have had a tremendous impact on modern day writings and entertainment, with many elements found in within the writings still being relevant in pop culture to this day. All in all, William Shakespeare has had one of the most immense impacts on English literature.
The first way William Shakespeare impacted English literature was through his style of writing. Shakespeare is well known and credited for being one of the most influential individuals, when it comes to having an impact on changing the way people thought how the structure and flow should be in writings. When Shakespeare first began writing his plays, he originally wrote in the traditional style of writing of the day age that he lived in. Shakespeare wrote in the style that was popular and commonly used during the Elizabethan era, because he had yet to form a writing style that was original and unique to him. As he progressed, however, he began to form his own style of writing, moving away from the more conventional style. On the other hand, this transition into a new writing form was not an abrupt one, but instead was a more gradual process.
His writings are not without flaws or unseen struggle in writing, and these can be found in a few of his early writings. One of Shakespeare's first comedies, "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" specifically, shows the struggles William Shakespeare faced when forming his own form of writing, with the play being written in an "undeveloped" and "conflicting" writing style. In his early works, he tended to rely pretty heavily on metaphors, while also playing and exploring the idea of narcissism in many of the characters portrayed in his plays. With the two ideas of metaphors and narcissistic characters being such prominent themes throughout the plays that he wrote, consequently, this caused people to think the writings indicated that he thought himself better than others, with his style coming across sounding very pompous and
pretentious.
Even with his early writings not having the greatest impression initially, nearly all, if not all, of them have become well acclaimed and praised for their brilliance. Mainly, Shakespeare is so well known because of his fantastic storytelling through his plays, with unrhymed iambic pentameter, or "blank verse" being the style that he most commonly used to tell his stories. Famous American writer. Marchette Chute, who wrote a biography for William Shakespeare, spoke of his tremendous ability to tell stories, and wrote the following the introduction of her biography, Stories from Shakespeare:
"William Shakespeare was the most remarkable storyteller that the world has ever known.
Homer told of adventure and men at war, Sophocles and Tolstoy told of tragedies and of people in trouble. Terence and Mark Twain told cosmic stories, Dickens told melodramatic ones, Plutarch told histories and Hand Christian Andersen told fairy tales. But Shakespeare told every kind of story – comedy, tragedy, history, melodrama, adventure, love stories and fairy tales – and each of them so well that they have become immortal. In all the world of storytelling he has become the greatest name." (Stories from Shakespeare, 11)
Shakespeare was also very well known for his impact on the world of poetry, particularly sonnets. During the Elizabethan era, sonnets had became a very popular form of writing, with Shakespeare's works at the front of this writing genre. The way William Shakespeare wrote sonnets was nothing special, as he wrote in a common style of the time inspired by older writings of the day, with a majority of them being written in iambic pentameter. However, Shakespeare popularized the writing structure that he used, with his sonnets being written with three quatrains and a couplet. Over time, this style became known as "Shakespearian" due to the frequency of which Shakespeare used the method. Considering the effect of his writing style, it is quite easy to see that William Shakespeare has left a significant impression on English literature.
The next area that Shakespeare was influential
in was the way he affected the English language.