Name: ______________________________ Date: ________________ Block: _____________

Shakespeare’s Life and Times - Fill in the correct dates in the left hand column as you watch
Born in Stratford, England, on April 23.

Shakespeare settles in London and writes his first plays: Richard the Third, The Comedy of Errors, Titus
Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Henry the Sixth Parts I, II, and III.
All theaters close for two years due to an outbreak of the plague. Shakespeare writes two book-length poems: “Venus and
Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece”.
Yippee!! Theaters re-open and Shakespeare is back writing for the stage.
Shakespeare completes Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Richard the Second, King John.
Shakespeare writes his sonnets.
Shakespeare writes The Merchant of Venice, Henry the Fifth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night.
Queen Elizabeth dies.
King James becomes the new ruler of England.

Shakespeare writes the tragedies Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra.

Shakespeare writes his last plays, including A Winter’s Tale and The Tempest.
Shakespeare decides it’s time to live the good life, so he retires and moves back to Stratford.
Shakespeare dies on April 23, at the age of 52.
First Folio of Shakespeare’s works is published.

Shakespeare’s Use of Language

________________________– a poetic form that usually uses a metrical pattern known as unrhymed iambic pentameter.
_____________________ – the use of a regular rhythm pattern in language.
____________ – a concentrated and heightened form of language, produced through rhythm and sound.
_____________ – the language of everyday, ordinary speech.
_______________ – a unit of speech that contains one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
___________________ – a poetic form that consists of five iambs. Shakespeare used this form in his plays to mimic the
natural rhythms of the English language. The line “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!” is written in perfect iambic
pentameter.

Elizabethan Drama Globe Theater

Importance of Words
• Shakespeare’s plays are primarily verbal, not visual • shaped like an “____________”
• Shakespeare used words to express the setting and mood • _____________________ – tower attached to
of his dramas
the roof
• Modern dramas are primarily visual
• _________ – center area where
Real Life vs. Stage Life groundlings watched the plays
• Characters in a Shakespeare play are understood to be
• stage of theater extended into audience,
characters ___________ ________________real people––not
real people with a _______________ in the middle.
• Modern dramas suggest that everything is real, especially the
place and the people
• Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, wrote The Poetics, in which he
spelled out his ideas on tragedy
• Aristotle described stage life as an “illusion”
• Aristotle described tragedy as an “imitation of an action”
Symbolic Art
• Shakespeare was influenced by __________________ _______
• Medieval Art was deeply ______________________.
 Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________ Block: ______

Determine whether the following statements about Elizabethan drama are true or false.
Circle (T) if the statement is true and (F) if the statement is false. (4 points each)

1. Elizabethan audiences listened intently to the words of a play. T/

F

2. Shakespeare used words to express the setting and mood of his plays. T/
F

3. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, described tragedy as an “illustration of art.” T/

F

4. The raging storm in King Lear is an example of symbolism. T/

F

5. Medieval art was deeply symbolic. T/

F

Choose the correct answer. (5 points each)

1. During which period did William Shakespeare live and work?

a) the Age of Enlightenment
b) the Elizabethan Era
c) the Romantic Era
d) the Italian Renaissance

2. Where was Shakespeare born?

a) Stratford
b) London
c) Once-upon-a-Thames
d) Hamm-on-Wye

3. What was the name of the theatrical company of which Shakespeare was a member?
a) The King's Men
b) The Queen's Men
c) The Chessmen
d) The Lord's Men

4. Which of the following was an attribute of the Globe Theater?

a) three-story, open-air construction
b) extended stage with trapdoor
c) shaped like an "O"
d) all of the above

5. What is the poetic form that usually uses a metrical pattern known as unrhymed iambic pentameter:?
a) meter
b) blank verse
c) prose
d) sonnet