Presenting Shakespeare

Facts About Shakespeare: True or False

• William Shakespeare lived from 1564-1616.– True!– Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon,

in 1564.– Shakespeare died in 1616 from unknown

causes.

• Shakespeare never married.– False!–Married Anne Hathaway in November of

1582.

Anne was around 25-26 years old at the time of the marriage. Shakespeare was around 17-18.

Together, the couple had three children: Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith.

• During Shakespeare’s time, people who wrote plays were considered to be literary experts and were respected.– False!– Poets were highly respected and were seen as

intellectual.

• Shakespeare’s first play is believed to be King Henry the Sixth, Part One.– True!– This play was written around 1589-1590.

• Shakespeare never published any of his plays. – True!–His fellow actors

posthumously published his work.

• Shakespeare also wrote sonnets.• True!

Sonnets– Sonnets are lyric poems that are fourteen lines

long– Every other line rhymes for lines 1-12. – Lines 13 and 14 are a couplet and these lines

rhyme.

Sonnets• Sonnets are traditionally written in iambic

pentameter. • The rhythm sound like a heartbeat. • The unstressed/stressed pattern sounds like, “da

DUM, da DUM, da DUM”.