english
1. Childhood
Q: When do we celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday and what records tell us this date?
A: April 23rd, St. George’s Day. (He died on the same day.)
Q: What did Shakespeare’s father do for a living?
A: Affluent glove maker.
Q: Describe Shakespeare’s education.
A: Not much education, left school around age 14.
2. Marriage
Q: Who was Shakespeare’s wife and what was her family background?
A: Anne Hathaway. Oldest sibling. Both parents died young.
Q: What scandalous circumstances surrounded Shakespeare’s marriage?
A: Their families were related. She was already a couple months pregnant when they married.
Q: Describe Shakespeare’s family.
A: They had one girl and two twins.
Q: What did Shakespeare leave his wife in his will? Explain two ways this could be interpreted.
A: He left her his second-best bed.
3. Career
Q: What were Shakespeare’s earliest works?
A: Two long poems and his earliest plays.
Q: What business ventures was Shakespeare involved in throughout his London career?
A: The Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later The King’s Men.
Q: What famous men and women supported Shakespeare’s career as patrons?
A: Folks and Ben Jonson supported him, Queen Elizabeth I.
4. Plays
Q: Shakespeare wrote three categories of plays: tragedies, histories, and comedies. How many did he write of each type?
A: He wrote 10 tragedies, 10 histories, and 18 comedies.
Q: What are the common elements of tragedies?
A: Time works against characters.
5. Sonnets
Q: What is a sonnet?
A: Poem with a specific structure of 14 lines (3 quatrains + 1 couplet).
Q: What is the meter of a Shakespearean sonnet? What line from John Keats easily shows iambic pentameter?
A: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.
Line: “my chest of books divide among my friends.”
Q: How many sonnets did Shakespeare write?
A: 154.
Q: What do we NOT know about Shakespeare’s sonnets?
A:
Don’t know who the speakers are.
Don’t know who they are intended for.
Q: What are some possible interpretations for Shakespeare’s sonnets addressed to a young man?
A: Shakespeare could have just been friends.
Q: What did Shakespeare’s contemporaries think about the sonnets? Were they popular?
A:
Not initially a hit.
Not a hit until after he died.
6. Death
Q: When did Shakespeare leave London?
A: 1613.
Q: What is significant about the day Shakespeare died?
A: It is the same day he was born.
Q: What likely caused his death?
A: Fever after meeting with friends (sickness).
Q: Where is Shakespeare buried and what is special about the place?
A: Holy Trinity Church, his local parish church where he was baptized.
7. Legacy
Q: According to David Tennant, why is Shakespeare still important?
A: His themes are relevant today; he understood human emotions.
Q: What are some common phrases we use today that we can attribute to Shakespeare?
A: (Not written down on the sheet, but examples include: “break the ice,” “wild goose chase,” “heart of gold.”)
Q: According to David Tennant, why do some get snobbish when it comes to the Shakespeare authorship question?
A: (Not answered on the sheet.)
Q: What are the common elements of histories?
A: The historical monarch as the main character.
Q: What are the common elements of comedies?
A: When everything works out for the characters.