Lecture 4 Literature of the 16th century. The Renaissance

William Shakespeare and his creative activities 
A poet and playwright William Shakespeare is the favorite author of millions of 
readers all over the world. No other writer's plays have been produced so often and 
read so widely in so many different countries. He had a greater influence on the 
world literature than any other author. 
William Shakespeare was born in 1564, on April 23 in Stratford-on-Avon, in 
England. His father, John Shakespeare, was a prosperous glove maker of Stratford 
who, after holding minor municipal offices, was elected high bailiff (the equivalent 
of mayor) of Stratford. Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, came from a family of 
landowners. 
In his childhood Shakespeare attended the Stratford Grammar School. 
Shakespeare's contemporaries first admired him for his long narrative poems 
"Venus and Adonis" (1593) and "The Rape of Lucrece" (1594). 
In 1599 the best-known of Elizabethan theatres, the Globe, was built and 
Shakespeare became a leading shareholder and the principal playwright to the 
theatre company. He was also an actor, but not a first-rate one: the parts he played 
were the old servant Adam in "As You like It" and the Ghost in "Hamlet". 
In 1613, after the Globe had been destroyed by fire during a performance of 
"Henry VIII" he retired and stopped writing. By then he was very ill. He died on 
April 23, 1616 and was buried in the Holy Trinity church in Stratford where he was 
christened. 
Although some of Shakespeare's plays were published during his life-time, not 
until his death was any attempt made to collect them in a single volume. The first 
edition of Shakespeare's collected plays appeared in 1623. 
Shakespeare's works are truly immortal, and will retain their immortality as long 
as the human race exists. He is a true classic; every new generation finds something 
new and unperceived in his works. His popularity all over the world grows from year 
to year. More than four hundred years after his birth the plays of Shakespeare are 
performed even more often than they were during his lifetime. They are performed 
on the stage, in the movies, and on television. They are read by millions of people 
all over the world.