William Shakespe

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William Shakespeare
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England in the year 1564, William Shakespeare was one of the most influential figures in English poetry and literature. The vastness and quality of his work often overshadow the brevity of his life, since he died aged 52. But perhaps that was the story of his life. A short yet fulfilled life. He married his wife, Anne Hathaway, at 18 years of age, and they had three children (Potter 20).
A poet, playwright, and actor, he was fondly referred to as the “Bard of Avon.” He is regarded as a key figure in the evolution of European literature, through his massive works of excellence that include thirty-nine plays, a hundred and fifty-four sonnets, among other genres. His plays, “The Merchant of Venice”, “Othello”, and “Hamlet” are especially popular and are a must-know for many enthusiasts of literature today (Potter 99).
Like many playwrights and poets, he lived a somewhat reserved life, and details as to various aspects of his life are mere speculations. He was a man that spoke to the world through his work. Perhaps as a testament to his aloof nature, many of his plays were tragedies, for example, “King Lear” and “Macbeth”. In his later years, he changed his genre a bit, incorporating a touch of comic relief to his work. His preferred to write his poems in iambic pentameter, following blank verse form.
Through his work, Shakespeare exposed the world of literature on how critical it is to pay attention to genres, plot, and character development in one’s creations.

It is befitting to say that he raised the idea of romance and tragedy in the same literary work through “Romeo and Juliet.”
A literary pioneer, and one of the greatest at that, his generation did not hold him in such high esteem. But like every other quality work, he was meant to live through the ages, and it did. Later generations revered his short life and adored every word that he wrote.

Work Cited
Potter, Lois. The Life of William Shakespeare: A Critical Biography. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. Print.