William Shakespeare and the GlobeBy Aliki

William Shakespeare has been called “The Greatest

Writer in the English Language.”

He was born on April 23, 1564 in a small English town of Stratford-upon-Avon. It was called this because it was nestled next to the River Avon.

Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582. He was 18 and she was 26.

The home of Anne Hathaway.

They had 3 children.

Susanna1583

Susanna1583

Judith1585

Hamnet1585

James Burbage, below, built the first public

playhouse in England.

1567-1619

In the Early 1590s,the plague in London led to

theatre closings.

Shakespeare turned to poetry writing. He wrote 154 sonnets (or poems).

“Shall I compare thee to a summer day . . . ?”-a line from Sonnet 18

Ben Jonson,a fellow

playwright, called

Shakespeare “Sweet Swan of Avon.” He

was later nicknamed “Bard (or poet) of Avon.”

Ben Jonson

The Globe Theatre opened by mid-1599

It was an Open-air Playhouse

From 1590-1613 Shakespeare wrote 36

plays.

Mel Gibson, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

Queen Elizabeth I

• Monarch of England (at age 25) from 1558-1603

• Her father, Henry VIII, beheaded her mother for treason

• Believed in a strong navy• Commerce, industry, and

the arts flourished• A huge patron of the arts

and especially of Shakespeare’s plays

The Globe burnt down in 1613, during a

performance of Henry VIII.

The Globe was rebuilt in 1997 just 200 meters from

the original site.

More Photos of the Globe

The River Thames

An aerial view of the Thames

London Bridge

A wherry, used in Shakespeare’s time to

transport people across the river.

Credits• Glatzer, P. “Shakespeare.” KIDS DISCOVER 10 (2000):

1-19.• http://powerlab.fsb.hr/www2/reportaza/druga.html

http://randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/• http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/uk/uk_london__t

heatres.htm http://www.davidorme.demon.co.uk/theatre 2.htm

• http://www.dcn.davis.ca.us/go/gizmo/travel/globe.html• http://www.hollowaypages.com/Shakespeareimages.htm• http://www.londonbyclick.com/imgallery/wallpapers/

index.cfm • http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/cems/courses.htm