William Shakespeare

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Standard Name: Shakespeare, William
The "Chandos" portrait of William Shakespeare, perhaps by John Taylor, c. 1610. Its claims to authenticity are doubtful, but better than most. It was the first portrait acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, 1856. An oval frame is painted round Shakespeare, who looks inscrutably at the viewer, with a bald forehead, moustache and small beard, wearing a black coat with white collar and a hoop earring in his left ear.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Anthologization Jo Shapcott
Germaine Greer 's Poems for Gardeners, 2003, includes several of the sensuous little 2-stanza poems that are Shapcott's version of Rainer Maria Rilke 's Les Roses, and printed in her Tender Taxes...
Anthologization Viola Meynell
In December 1910, VM and her siblings Francis , Olivia , and Monica published a poetryanthology called Eyes of Youth (a phrase taken from Shakespeare 's The Merry Wives of Windsor), which included, along...
Birth Ngaio Marsh
NM was born the only child of New Zealand-born Rose Seager Marsh and British-born Henry Edmond Marsh, in a modest, rented house in Fendalton, a suburb of Christchurch.
Lewis, Margaret. Ngaio Marsh: A Life. Chatto & Windus, 1991.
8
McDorman, Kathryne Slate. Ngaio Marsh. Twayne, 1991.
xiii, 4
It did not...
Birth Viola Tree
Her father, the famous actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , named her after the Viola of Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night (though he almost named her Rosalind, for As You Like It). At her birth...
Characters Elizabeth B. Lester
EBL gives a different interpretation to Mrs Ross's phrase the balance of comfort, balancing (here and in later novels) the single against the married life. The title-page quotes five prose maxims from one Harris...
Characters Ivy Compton-Burnett
In A Heritage and its History an elderly uncle marries a young girl, his nephew seduces her and the son of their union later wishes to marry the nephew's legitimate daughter.
British Book News. British Council.
(1959): 747
It features...
death Christopher Marlowe
Standard accounts of his death used to say that it was a brawl, largely caused by himself. But accident seems unlikely. He had recently been brought in for questioning by the Privy Council , but...
death Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
Reportedly, during the earliest stages of her illness, she was found resting on the sofa and reading Shakespeare . Life is worth living, she told her family, as long as there is King Lear to...
Dedications Christabel Coleridge
This small-size book has an ornamental cover and title-page, both printed in black and red on white.CC dedicates it, with a quotation offering flowers, from Shakespeare 's The Winter's Tale, to J. F...
Dedications Anna Brownell Jameson
ABJ published in two volumes Characteristics of Women, Moral, Poetical and Historical, later renamed Shakespeare 's Heroines; it was dedicated to Fanny Kemble .
Johnston, Judith. Anna Jameson: Victorian, Feminist, Woman of Letters. Scolar Press, 1997.
237
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2025, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Education Catherine Cookson
The house had no books and when a lodger brought in Shakespeare, Milton , and Donne , they were pronounced unsuitable for a child. CC did read a Shakespeare sonnet at about this age and...
Education Jennifer Johnston
JJ studied English at Trinity College, Dublin . She had trouble getting in, and once she was there she became disillusioned with what was on offer—just sitting in a class of an enormous size, listening...
Education Freya Stark
Family friends sympathetic to Freya's feelings of entrapment at Dronero sent her gifts of books: she was especially passionate about Shakespeare , Sir Walter Scott , Byron , Keats , Kipling , Shelley , Wordsworth
Education Anne Ridler
She lived in a King's College hostel in Queensborough Terrace near Hyde Park,London. The course included lectures on history and literature. The distinguished scholar Jack Isaacs lectured on Shakespeare , Donne , and Milton
Education Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna
CET was self-taught, although she studied hard in her childhood,
Todd, Janet, editor. Dictionary of British Women Writers. Routledge, 1989.
and memorized a great deal of Shakespeare .
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.

Timeline

25 October 1415: Henry V's victory over the French at Agincourt...

National or international item

25 October 1415

Henry V 's victory over the French at Agincourt initiated the peak period of English rule over France.
Griffiths, Ralph Alan. “The Later Middle Ages (1290-1485)”. Oxford Illustrated History of Britain, edited by Kenneth O. Morgan, Oxford University Press, 1984, pp. 166-22.
200, 209

3 March 1592: The first part of William Shakespeare's Henry...

Writing climate item

3 March 1592

The first part of William Shakespeare 's Henry VI (not, however, the first part to be written) probably had its opening performance.
Kay, Dennis. Shakespeare: His Life, Work, and Era. William Morrow, 1992.
11, 97-8

18 April 1593: Shakespeare's first published work, the narrative...

Writing climate item

18 April 1593

Shakespeare 's first published work, the narrative poem Venus and Adonis, was registered with the Stationers' Company ; the only recorded copy is in the Bodleian Library .
Barber, Giles. “A Continuing Tradition: Non-Book Materials in the Taylor Institution Library”. Bodleian Library Record, Vol.
xvii
, No. 3-4, Apr.–Oct. 2001, pp. 261-7.
263
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

2 May 1594: The Taming of the Shrew, a comedy by Shakespeare,...

Writing climate item

2 May 1594

The Taming of the Shrew, a comedy by Shakespeare , was entered in the Stationers' Register.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
2 May 2008
McMullan, Gordon, and John, 1579 - 1625 Fletcher. “Introduction”. The Tamer Tamed, Nick Hern Books, 2003, p. xiii - xvii.
xiii-xvii

1597: Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, probably...

Writing climate item

1597

Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet, probably written in 1594-5, was both staged and published.
Kay, Dennis. Shakespeare: His Life, Work, and Era. William Morrow, 1992.
196

22 July 1598: Shakespeare's comedy The Merchant of Venice...

Writing climate item

22 July 1598

Shakespeare 's comedy The Merchant of Venice was entered in the Stationers' Register by the printer named James Roberts.
Arber, Edward, editor. A Transcript of the Registers of the Company of Stationers of London 1554-1660, A. D. Privately Printed, 1875–1894, 5 vols.
3: 39v

September 1598: Ben Jonson's earliest well-known comedy,...

Writing climate item

September 1598

Ben Jonson 's earliest well-known comedy, Every Man in His Humour, was first performed, with a cast that included Richard Burbage and William Shakespeare .
Dutton, Richard. Ben Jonson, Authority, Criticism. Macmillan, 1996.
xiii

: Shakespeare probably completed the story...

Writing climate item

Winter 1598-9

Shakespeare probably completed the story of his two Henry IV history plays by writing Henry V, in which the charismatic but formerly undisciplined prince makes good as national military hero.
Dobson, Michael. “A Furtive Night’s Work”. London Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2005, pp. 7-8.
7

Spring 1599: As soon as the danger of frost was over,...

Writing climate item

Spring 1599

As soon as the danger of frost was over, the Globe Theatre was built,or re-built, in Southwark, south of the river in London, as a home for Shakespeare 's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men .
Rogers, Pat, editor. An Outline of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 1992.
126-7
Dobson, Michael. “A Furtive Night’s Work”. London Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2005, pp. 7-8.
7
Neill, Michael. “Glimpsed in the Glare”. London Revew of Books, Vol.
37
, No. 24, 17 Dec. 2015, pp. 39-41.
40

: Shakespeare probably composed his Roman history...

Writing climate item

Spring 1599

Shakespeare probably composed his Roman history play Julius Caesar.
Dobson, Michael. “A Furtive Night’s Work”. London Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2005, pp. 7-8.
7

: William Jaggard published The Passionate...

Writing climate item

Summer 1599

William Jaggard published The Passionate Pilgrime, a pirated miscellany including poetry by Marlowe , Shakespeare , and others; the title-page ascription to Shakespeare is unjustified.
Dobson, Michael. “A Furtive Night’s Work”. London Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2005, pp. 7-8.
7

4 August 1600: Shakespeare's comedy As You Like It was entered...

Writing climate item

4 August 1600

Shakespeare 's comedy As You Like It was entered in the Stationers' Register ; it remained unpublished until 1623.
Kay, Dennis. Shakespeare: His Life, Work, and Era. William Morrow, 1992.
257

23 August 1600: William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado about...

Writing climate item

23 August 1600

William Shakespeare 's comedy Much Ado about Nothing, probably written between summer 1598 and spring 1599, was licensed with the Stationers' Company ; it was printed this year.
Kay, Dennis. Shakespeare: His Life, Work, and Era. William Morrow, 1992.
236
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

7 February 1601: Followers of the Earl of Essex attended a...

Writing climate item

7 February 1601

Followers of the Earl of Essex attended a play at the Globe Theatre, the day before rising against Queen Elizabeth : this has been taken, probably wrongly, to demonstrate the theatre's political power.
Gutierrez, Nancy A. "Shall She Famish Then?". Ashgate, 2003.
22-3

26 July 1602: Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet was entered...

Writing climate item

26 July 1602

Shakespeare 's tragedy Hamlet was entered in the Stationers' Register , probably not long after its first performance.
Shakespeare, William. “Introduction and Textual Note”. Hamlet, edited by Edward Hubler, New American Library, 1963.
xxviin2, 175
Dobson, Michael. “A Furtive Night’s Work”. London Review of Books, 20 Oct. 2005, pp. 7-8.
7

Texts

Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Editor Hoy, Cyrus, Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 1992.
Callcott, Maria, and William Shakespeare. “Introduction”. The Seven Ages of Shakspeare, edited by J. Martin and J. Martin, J. Van Voorst, 1840.
Shakespeare, William. “Introduction”. Macbeth, edited by Kenneth Muir, Methuen, 1953, p. xi - lxxiv.
Shakespeare, William. “Introduction”. Sonnets, edited by Alfred Leslie Rowse, Macmillan, 1964, p. vii - xxxvii.
Shakespeare, William. “Introduction and Textual Note”. Hamlet, edited by Edward Hubler, New American Library, 1963.
Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Editor Rowse, Alfred Leslie, Macmillan, 1964.
Shakespeare, William. The Family Shakespeare. Editor Bowdler, Henrietta Maria, R. Cruttwell; J. Hatchard, 1807, 4 vols.
Shakespeare, William. The Plays of William Shakespeare. Editor Johnson, Samuel, Vol.
8 vols.
, Printed for J. and R. Tonson, 1765.