Name: William Shakespeare
Title/s: Poet / Playwright / Actor
Birth / Death: 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616
Spouse: Anne Hathaway c.1555-1623
Children: Susanna 1583-1649 / Hamnet 1585-1596 / Judith 1585-1662
Parents: John Shakespeare c.1531-1601 & Mary Arden c.1537-1608
Siblings: Joan c.1558 / Margaret 1562-3 / Gilbert 1566-1612 / Joan 1569-1646 / Anne 1571-9 / Richard 1574-1613 / Edmund 1580-1607
Noble Connections: It is not thought that Shakespeare had any noble connections.
Events of their Lifetime: Death of Elizabeth I 1603, invasion of the Spanish Armada, England and Scotland come under the same monarchy 1603, Gunpowder Plot 1605
Controversy: There has been much controversy within Shakespeare’s plays and poetry, like how far Shakespeare’s own life influenced his poems and plays – like the similarity between Hamlet and Shakespeare’s own son, Hamnet.
Works of Fiction:
Jennifer Lee Carrell, Interred with their Bones (2008)
Karen Harper, Shakespeare’s Mistress (2011)
Sarah Hoyt, All Night Awake (2013)
Sarah Hoyt, Any Man So Daring (2013)
Sarah Hoyt, Ill Met by Moonlight (2013)
Grace Tiffany, My Father had a Daughter (2004)
Grace Tiffany, Will (2005)
Leonard Tourney, Time’s Fool (2004)
Portrayals on Screen:
Joseph Fiennes, Shakespeare in Love, 1998, directed by Richard Madden
Rafe Spall, Anonymous, 2011, directed by Roland Emmerich
Xander Williams, Blank Verse, 2013, 15 episodes
Further Reading:
John F. Andrews, William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence (1985)
Jonathon Bates, The Genius of Shakespeare (1997)
E.K. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (1923)
E.K. Chambers, A Short Life of Shakespeare (1946)
Terry Eagleton, William Shakespeare (1991)
Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare (2004)
Dennis Kay, Shakespeare: his Life, Work and Era (1992)
A.L. Rowse, William Shakespeare (1963)
Portrait:
Tudor Blogger 