by Judy Ann Davis
It’s been a long, long month
for people in our nation with our “stay in home or shelter in place” orders
from our state governments. I hope everyone is doing well.
For me, more of an introvert
than an extrovert, my days are not as difficult as others. I’m busy with small
household chores or various activities as such as baking, sewing, crocheting,
woodworking or writing. And I’m very used to solitude when I’m writing.
April is the birth and death month
of one of our most well-known writers in literature—William Shakespeare. Ironically,
Shakespeare lived through the first wave of the bubonic plague. It shut down
the theatres in London and lasted sixteen months (during 1593-1594), killing
approximately 20,000 people in London and the surrounding area. This was one of
Shakespeare most prolific times for writing poetry. He is credited for writing
over 150 sonnets. (NOTE: The Great Plague of 1665 occurred later, where 15
percent of London’s populations perished again.)
William Shakespeare was born
to John Shakespeare, an alderman and successful glove maker, and Mary Arden,
the daughter of an affluent landowning farmer. Since there was no documentation
of his exact birth date, history uses April 26, 1564, his baptism date instead.
He was the third of eight children and the eldest surviving son. At the age of
eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than he was.
Together, they had three children.
Although it’s not known
exactly when Shakespeare began writing, records of theater performances show
that several of his plays were on the London stage by 1592. He would have been
only 28 years old.
After 1594, his plays were
performed only by a group of players called Lord Chamberlain’s Men, of which he
was a player himself, and which also became the leading playing company in
London. In 1599, a partnership of members of the company built their own
theatre on the south bank of the Thames which they named the Globe. The
partnership also took over the Blackfriars indoor theatre in 1608. Records show
that his property purchases and investments with the company made him a wealthy
man. He bought the second-largest house in Stratford for his family.
History best remembers Shakespeare
as an accomplished playwright, poet, writer, and actor. Along with his poems
and sonnets, he wrote 37 plays during his lifetime. Some of his most well-known
works are Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet,
Hamlet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and
Taming of the Shrew. Sadly, he died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52.
Do you have a favorite
Shakespeare work that you like? As a romance and mystery writer, I would have
to admit that Romeo and Juliet was my
favorite, despite the tragic ending.
COMING SOON from the "Two Scoops or One" Wild Rose Press Collection:
HUCKLEBERRY HAPPINESS
