WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
This year is the 400th anniversary
of Shakespeare’s death (1616). He was an English poet, playwright, and actor.
He is considered the greatest writer in the English language.
We know very little about
Shakespeare’s life. He was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Auon,
Warwickshire. He married Anne Hathaway when he was 18 and they had three
children (Susanna, and twins Hannet and Judith). Between 1585 and 1892 he went
to London and worked as an actor, writer and part-owner of a playing company.
He died in Stratford when he was 49.
His early plays were comedies and
histories, later he wrote mainly tragedies (hamlet, Othello, King Lear and
Macbeth). He also wrote the famous sonnets and two long poems. His works are
still very popular and his plays are performed throughout the world and more
often than those of any other playwright. There are celebrations all this year.
This year is also the 400th anniversary of Miquel de Cervantes death.
It is interesting to note that his
vocabulary consisted of 30.000 words and we use approximately 2.000 words.
