William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) was an English poet and playwright who has a reputation as one of the greatest of all writers in the English language and in Western literature, as well as one of the world's pre-eminent dramatists.

Reputation

Main articles: Shakespeare's reputation, Timeline of Shakespeare criticism

Related Topics:
Shakespeare's reputation - Timeline of Shakespeare criticism

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Shakespeare's reputation has grown considerably since his own time, as illustrated in a timeline of Shakespeare criticism from the 17th to 20th century.

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During his lifetime and shortly after his death, Shakespeare was well-regarded, but not considered the supreme poet of his age. He was included in some contemporary lists of leading poets, but he lacked the stature of Edmund Spenser or Philip Sidney. It is more difficult to assess his contemporary reputation as a playwright: Plays were considered ephemeral and somewhat disreputable entertainments rather than serious literature. The fact that his plays were collected in an expensively produced folio in 1623 (the only precedent being Ben Jonson's Workes of 1616) and the fact that that folio went into another edition within nine years, indicate that he was held in unusually high regard for a playwright.

Related Topics:
Edmund Spenser - Philip Sidney - 1623 - Ben Jonson - 1616

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After the Interregnum stage ban of 1642—1660, the new Restoration theatre companies had the previous generation of playwrights as the mainstay of their repertory, most of all the phenomenally popular Beaumont and Fletcher team, but also Ben Jonson and Shakespeare. Old plays were often adapted for the Restoration stage, and where Shakespeare is concerned, this undertaking has seemed shockingly respectless to posterity. A notorious example is Nahum Tate's bowdlerized happy ending of King Lear of 1681, which held the stage until 1838. From the early 18th century, Shakespeare took over the lead on the English stage from Beaumont and Fletcher, never to relinquish it again.

Related Topics:
Interregnum - 1642 - 1660 - Restoration - Beaumont and Fletcher team - Restoration stage - Nahum Tate - King Lear - 1681 - 1838 - 18th century

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In literary criticism, by contrast, Shakespeare held a unique position from the start. The unbending French neo-classical "rules" and the three unities of time, place, and action were never strictly followed in England, and practically all critics gave the more "correct" Ben Jonson second place to "the incomparable Shakespeare" (John Dryden, 1668), the follower of nature, the untaught genius, the great realist of human character. The long-lived myth that the Romantics were the first generation to truly appreciate Shakespeare and to prefer him to Ben Jonson is contradicted by accolades from Restoration and 18th-century writers such as John Dryden, Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope, and Samuel Johnson. The 18th century is also largely responsible for setting the text of Shakespeare's plays. Nicholas Rowe created the first truly scholarly text for the plays in 1709, and Edmund Malone's Variorum Edition (published posthumously in 1821) is still the basis of modern editions of the plays.

Related Topics:
Literary criticism - Neo-classical "rules" - Three unities of time, place, and action - Genius - Romantics - Joseph Addison - Alexander Pope - Samuel Johnson - Nicholas Rowe - 1709 - Edmund Malone's - 1821

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At the beginning of the 19th century, Romantic critics such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge raised admiration for Shakespeare to adulation or bardolatry, in line with the Romantic reverence for the poet as prophet and genius.

Related Topics:
19th century - Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Bardolatry

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In the twenty-first century, Shakespeare is often simultaneously considered both the greatest and one of the more difficult authors by the general public. Most inhabitants of the English-speaking world encounter Shakespeare at school at a young age, and there is a common association of his work with boredom and incomprehension. At the same time, Shakespeare's plays remain more frequently staged than the works of any other playwright. The negative reputation held by many makes him the target of frequent parody and satire, for example by the comic strip Foxtrot and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

Related Topics:
Twenty-first century - English-speaking world - Parody - Satire - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)

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