Elizabethan Era: • Associated with Queen Elizabeth’s reign:1550s through 1600s• The renaissance of England: a burgeoning of poetry and literature• An age of expansion and exploration• The poverty stricken rural areas were of great contrast to the wealth of royalty.• 90% of the country was poor while the other 10% were very wealthy.

Stratford Upon Avon:• Historically a market place town• Made up of merchants and their families during the Elizabethan era• Middle class

Shakespeare:• Thought to be born on April 23, 1564• Grew up in a middle class household• Went to grammar school, though it is not known for how long

Marriage:• William married Ann Hathaway on November 28, 1582 • She was 26 and he was 18• Had a daughter in 1583 and twins in 1585

The Lost Years:• After 1585, there is little to no record of Shakespeare• People think that he most likely became the headmaster of a small school in the country • He likely had contact with traveling theater groups through teaching • This may have been how he became known in the literary world

1592: I’m baaaaack!• Shakespeare emerges on the literary scene in 1592 • He becomes famous for his sonnets, comedies, and tragedies• The first printed words about the mysterious Shakespeare were written by Robert Greene, a

university educated poet and playwright …

Salted: Robert Greene was a fellow poet who was critical of the new Elizabethan poet. He called Shakespeare a pompous faker.

“There is an upstart Crow, beautified with

our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart

wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes

he is as well able to bombast out a blank

verse as the best of you, and being an

absolute Johannes factotum, is in his own

conceit the only Shake-scene in a country”