1st November is Author’s Day, a day to celebrate the great works in literature. No culture, society, Nation can be complete without society’s mirror i.e. literature during the particular time period. Today, let us celebrate the greatest playwright of all time, Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare.
Vernon Barford School via Compfight
William Shakespeare:-
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor who is widely regarded as the greatest English writer. He is also known as ‘Bard of Avon’ and ‘England’s national poet’. He was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. When he was 18, he married Anna Hathaway with whom he got three children, Sussana, twins Hamnet and Judith. He wrote approximately 38 plays and 150 short and long poems. He died on 23 April, 1616 when he was 52 years old.
For more information about his life, look here.
Here are some of his best works.
1. Romeo and Juliet: Two children from Montague and Capulet families fall in love but the age old rivalry of the these two families will not allow them. Read on to learn more about this tragic love story.
2. Macbeth: A great hero Macbeth finds himself caught in the web of his own ambition planted in him by the three ancient witches and Lady Macbeth. He committed many crimes and finally succumbed to his deeds. Read on to learn about the downfall of the great hero.
3. Antony and Cleopatra: A great Roman General, Antony finds himself so much deeply in love with the ‘brown faced beauty’ of Egypt, the Queen Cleopatra. The play brings forth the war of the great General with Octavius Caesar amidst his great love. Read on to learn more about their great love that lives through their deaths.
4. The Winter’s Tale: Queen Hermione, wife of Leontes , King of Sicilia undergoes many hardships because of some misunderstanding but finally, her patience is rewarded and she is reunited with her family. Read on to learn about her life.
5. Sonnets: Shakespeare’s sonnets consist of 14 lines divided into three quatrains and a final couplet . He wrote 154 sonnets, out of which first 126 were dedicated to a young man and the remaining 38 to a woman. Read here for some of his most famous sonnets.
Nice overview of Shakespeare’s life & works. Interestingly, Cleopatra may not have been as “brown-faced” as you’d expect, since she was not Egyptian, but of Greek descent.
You are so right about literature being society’s mirror. I wrote a blog entry about how even Caldecott Award picture books (a U.S.A. literary award) reflect the beliefs that adults want to hand down to their youth. https://goo.gl/VGdV3B
Ms. P. from Dallas TX USA
Ms Paciotti
Thanks for the comment. I was unaware of Cleopatra’s descent.’Brown faced’ was a term I came across when I was reading the play.
I read about Caldecott books as well. It was nice to learn about the children books.
Thankyou
Rajyashori