William Shakespeare: His Life and Work"Who was William Shakespeare? How did the "rude groom" from Stratford, the son of a glover who rose to be Mayor, grow up to be the greatest poet the world has known? In the first popular biography of Shakespeare for quarter of a century, Anthony Holden sifts fact from legend." "Was he bisexual? Did he have an illegitimate son? As a member of a noble household, Shakespeare falls in love, endures the pangs of sexual jealousy, and catches the clap. By his retirement, four years before his death from drink at 52, he has become a wealthy landowner fretting about his daughters' future, haunted by the death of his son. Why did he stop writing? Or did he?" "Holden interleaves the poet's own words with the known facts to breathe new life into a story never before told in such absorbing detail."--Jacket |
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actor Alleyn Anne Antony Arden edition Ben Jonson biographers Blackfriars brother Burbage Burgess Caesar Catholic century character Comedy of Errors court daughter Davenant death dramatic Earl Elizabeth Elizabethan English Eric Sams Essex Falstaff Fletcher Folio Globe Hamlet Heminges Henley Street Henry Hesketh Hoghton honour husband James John Shakespeare Jonson King Lear King's King's Men Lady Lancashire later living London Lord Chamberlain's Lord Chamberlain's Men Love's Labour's Lost Lucy Macbeth marriage married Mary Mountjoy Othello Oxford performed perhaps play's players playhouse playwright poem poet poet's published quarto Queen Queen's Men Quiney recusant Richard Richard Burbage Richard II royal scene Schoenbaum scholars seems Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Shakespeare's plays Shrew Sir Thomas Sonnets Southampton stage Stratford Stratford-upon-Avon suggest Susanna Tempest theatre theatrical Timon Titus Andronicus town tragedy troupe Venus and Adonis Warwickshire wife William Davenant William Shakespeare writing written wrote young