Unit 1 The written word-文化背景素材(译林牛津版选修8).docVIP

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (1564 –1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds preeminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet and the Bard of Avon (or simply The Bard). Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world. Life William Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a successful glover and alderman originally from Snitterfield, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon and baptised on 26 April 1564. His unknown birthday is traditionally observed on 23 April, St Georges Day. This date, which can be traced back to an eighteenth-century scholars mistake, has proved appealing because Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616. He was the third child of eight and the eldest surviving son. John Shakespeares house, believed to be Shakespeares birthplace, in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, Shakespeare married the 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. Six months after the marriage, she gave birth to a daughter, Susanna, who was baptised on 26 May 1583. Twins, son Hamnet and daughter Judith, followed almost two years later and were baptised on 2 February 1585. Between 1585 and 1592,