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Definition: Shakespeare from Merriam-Webster's Collegiate(R) Dictionary

William Shakespeare 1564–1616 Eng. dram. & poet


Shakespeare, William

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
1564–1616, English dramatist and poet, b. Stratford-upon-Avon. He is widely considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. His father, John Shakespeare, was successful in the leather business during Shakespeare's early childhood but later met with financial difficulties. During his prosperous years his father was also involved in municipal affairs, holding the offices of alderman and bailiff during the 1560s. While little is known of Shakespeare's boyhood, he probably attended the grammar school in Stratford, where he would have been educated in the classics, particularly Latin grammar and literature. Whatever the veracity of Ben Jonson's famous comment that Shakespeare had “small Latine, and less Greeke,” much of his work clearly depends on a knowledge of Roman comedy, ancient history, and classical mythology. In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior and pregnant at the time of the marriage. They had three children: Susanna, born in 1583, and twins, Hamnet…
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Full text Article Shakespeare, William

From Continuum Encyclopedia of British Literature
Seven years after Shakespeare died, two fellow-actors, John Heminge and Henry Condell, published a “Collected Works”—something almost without precedent for an author dignified neither by antiquity nor by having written in Latin or Greek, still the serious languages of Renaissance Europe. A…
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Full text Article SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM: BRITAIN

From Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760-1850
The Romantic period is often credited with a rediscovery of William Shakespeare, evidenced by powerful performances of his plays, and the influence he exerted in both theatrical and nontheatrical contexts. The critical rationale for this is what was—and often has been claimed since as—Shakespeare's…
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Full text Article Shakespeare, William

From Philip's Encyclopedia
English poet and dramatist. By 1592 he was established in London, having already written the three parts of Henry VI . By 1594, Shakespeare was a member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and in 1599 a partner in the Globe Theatre , where many of his plays were presented. He retired to Stratford upon…
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Full text Article Shakespeare, William (1564–1616).

From The Oxford Companion to British History
Dramatist and poet. Baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 April 1564, William was the son of John Shakespeare, a glovemaker and prominent Stratford citizen who became mayor and justice of the peace during William's childhood. He was educated at the Stratford grammar school, and married Anne…
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Full text Article Shakespeare, William (1564–1616)

From The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales
English playwright, poet, director, and actor, who uses forms of the word ‘fairy’ in at least ten of his plays, as well as in Venus and Adonis . Shakespeare mentions elves in five plays; nymphs in eight plays, Venus and Adonis , The Passionate Pilgrim , and the Sonnets; sprites or supernatural…
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Full text Article Shakespeare, William (1564–1616)

From The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance
English actor, playwright, *manager , poet, and landowner. The most popular and influential dramatist in world history was baptized in provincial Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 April 1564, and it is a mark of his canonization as Britain's national writer that his birthday (which may have been any time…
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English poet, playwright and actor. He lived in Stratford-upon- Avon, the home of his wife and children, and in London, where he worked in the theatre, becoming England’s greatest playwright. His influence on literature and language throughout the world has been immense. The dates of composition of…
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Full text Article William Shakespeare 1564–1616

From The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
English dramatist. On Shakespeare: see arnold , aubrey , basse , browning , coleridge , dryden , dryden , …
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Full text Article William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety. Antony and Cleopatra II. ii 243 Alas! poor Yorick. I knew him, Horatio; a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Hamlet V. i 201 All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Macbeth V. i 56 All the world's a…
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Full text Article EARTH, AGE OF

From Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations
English geologist It is perhaps a little indelicate to ask of our Mother Earth her age, but Science acknowledges no shame and from time to time has boldly attempted to wrest from her a secret which is proverbially well guarded. The Age of the Earth: An Introduction to Geological Ideas Preface (p. ix…
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