William Shakespeare
10 Facts:
- He lived in a large family with seven siblings, 3 brothers and 4 sisters.
- During his lifetime, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets.
- Shakespeare married his wife Anne Hathaway when he was 18, she was 26 and 3 months pregnant.
- The International Astronomy Union named some of Uranus' moons after characters in Shakespeare's plays.
- Shakespeare is the second most quoted writer in the English language, only after the various writers of the bible.
- Shakespeare's original globe theatre was burnt to the ground in 1613 when a cannon lit the roof on fire during a performance of Henry VIII.
- Some pictures depict him wearing a gold earring.
- His shortest play is The Comedy of Errors, only being 1,770 lines long.
- There are over 80 different recorded variations for how Shakespeare wrote his own name.
- Shakespeare cursed his own grave when he died. His grave still remains undisturbed to this day.
Through my research I realized that William Shakespeare was a very different person than I imagined. Instead of being the boring play writer I thought he was, many interesting things happened during his lifetime. I learned that his cause of death is unknown, but it is rumored to be from drinking too much one night. Historians claim that he invented the words "frugal," "skim milk,"hint," and "bedroom." I also learned that his famous globe theatre was filthy and stunk of beer, garlic, and meat. Now whenever I think of Shakespeare, a completely different person will come to mind.
Sources:
Glum, Julia. "William Shakespeare's Birthday: 20 Interesting Facts About The Life And Plays Of 'The Bard'" Ibtimes. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
"10 Things You Didn’t Know About William Shakespeare." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.
"Shakespeare: 10 Things You Didn't Know." The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2015.