36 Interesting Facts About William Shakespeare
# Shakespeare is widely considered to be the greatest dramatist in the world.
# Shakespeare received a classical Latin education at King's New School in Stratford.
# Shakespeare worked as an actor, writer, and co-owner of a drama company called the ‘Lord Chamberlain’s Men’- Later known as the King’s Men.
# When he was 18, Shakespeare married his wife Anne Hathaway. She was 26 and three months pregnant with Shakespeare’s child when they married. Six months after the wedding their first child, Susanna, was born.
# Shakespeare never seemed to correctly pronounce his name, always signing his name "Willm Shakp."
# The mysterious William Shakespeare has disappeared from records for about seven years from 1585. This part of the writer's life is often referred by historians as 'the lost years.'
# His surviving works have a total count of around 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two narrative poems, and other unclassified works.
# His greatest plays include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Romeo and Juliet.
# The plays of Shakespeare include 200 dog references and 600 bird references.
# The Oxford English Dictionary credited Shakespeare with introducing nearly 3000 words into the English language.
# Shakespeare's plays tend to be divided into three major divisions
* Comedies – ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’, ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’
* Tragedies – ‘Romeo and Juliet’, ‘Hamlet’, and ‘Othello.’
* Histories – ‘Henry V.’
# Shakespeare's company was awarded a royal patent by the new King James I after the death of Queen Elizabeth I and changed its name to the King's Men.
# The longest word in one of Shakespeare’s works was in “Love’s Labor Lost“. A character says “honorificabilitudinitatibus,” which means “invincible glorious honorableness”.
# Shakespeare has given many memorable phrases to the English language, such as “wild goose chase”, “foregone conclusion” “in a pickle.”
# The moons of Uranus are named after characters from Shakespeare and Alexander Pope's works.
# There are only two plays of Shakespeare written entirely in verse: Richard II and King John. Many of the plays contain half the text in prose.
# The name "Jessica" first appeared in the play "Merchant of Venice" by Shakespeare.
# John Keats, a romantic poet, kept a Shakespeare bust near his desk, hoping Shakespeare would spark his creativity.
# Shakespeare mentions America directly only once.
# By 1592, Shakespeare received his first literary criticism from the playwright Robert Greene, criticizing Shakespeare as a 'Jack of all trades' – a second-rate tinkerer from others' work.
# Rapper Tupac Shakur was a voracious reader, and particularly enjoyed Shakespeare.
# Shakespeare was the most quoted author in the early "Dictionary of the English Language" by Samuel Johnson.
# Scientists found traces of Cannabis on pipes found in the garden of William Shakespeare.
# Although the works of Shakespeare extend to over a million words, there are only 14 in his own handwriting.
# Caodaism is a religion in Vietnam that worships Joan of Arc, Shakespeare, and Muhammad.
# Shakespeare was the first to use the letter u as an abbreviation for "you."
# The signature of Shakespeare is worth over US$5 million.
# At the same time Shakespeare and Pocahontas were alive.
# No direct Shakespeare descendants are alive today.
# William Shakespeare was born and died on the same day.
# When Shakespeare died he left only a bed in his will to his wife.
If you are interested then check out our "Facts About Leonardo Da Vinci"
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