Shakespeare: His Life and Plays

by Will Fowler

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Genres: Nonfiction

66 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2002

About the author

Will Fowler is Professor of Spanish at the University of St Andrews, where he has taught since 1995. He earned his PhD at the University of Bristol and worked as a lecturer in Spanish at Leicester Polytechnic (subsequently renamed De Montfort University) for four years before joining the University of St Andrews.

Reviews

[Omar9121]

I think is really interesting story about Shakespeare

[Kosuke Kamiya · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 Penguin level 4

2 5/30=30min, 5/31=30min, 6/1=30min, 6/2=30min

3 Shakespeare, life, play, act, their family, work

4a Most dramatists of Shakespeare’s time wrote long speeches for the actor, but Shakespeare always used simple language in scenes like these. He wanted to make sure that everyone in the audience understood what was happening.

4b In my opinion, it is always the leading man who uses simple words in order to tell everyone his real feeling in any ages. The Japanese politics should imitate him because they always uses difficult words for me, in addition, they can’t keep their manifest and so the young people is getting less interested in the society.

5 I don’t know Shakespeare well, so after reading this book, I am interested in his play. Especially, Hamlet and Macbeth, I know about Romeo and Juliet a little and so I would like to know other tragedy work.

[Santosh Thapa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bhadra 19, 2077, Friday

Shakespeare: His Life And Plays - Will Fowler (2002)
[Penguin Readers Intermediate (Level 4)]

Genres: EnglishGradedReaders/ Nonfiction/ Biography
Pages: 66
Rating: 8/10

Themes: Elizabethan times/ The Globe/ Shakespeare nowadays

Opener:
“On or about 22 April 1564, Mary Arden, the wife of John Shakespeare, gave birth to a son in Stratford-upon-Avon.”

Summary:
In Shakespeare, His Life and Plays, Will Fowler describes Shakespeare’s life from the early times in Stratford, then as an actor and dramatist in London, to his final years.

Verdict:
It is an interesting read on the life of the greatest playwright in the English Language. Born in 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare wrote thirty-nine plays and hundreds of poems. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway and they had three children. Living in London, while his family stayed in Stratford, he was a member of a theater company which performed at the Globe and Blackfriars theaters. His plays were performed for Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. In 1610 he returned to Stratford and continued to write until his death in 1616. And even though there is little more in the book than what people already know about Shakespeare, this is a nice little summary of his life events.

[Namiko]

If I had known Shakespeare's work more, I would have enjoyed this stories.

[Chintya · Rating 5 out of 5]

scary