Who was William Shakespeare?
Q: Who was William Shakespeare?
A: William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor who wrote 39 plays and two long poems in his lifetime. He lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
Q: When did he write his works?
A: Shakespeare wrote his works between about 1590 and 1613.
Q: What kinds of plays did he write?
A: Shakespeare wrote plays of different genres including histories, tragedies and comedies. He was the first person to ever write a tragicomedy which is a play that mixes comedy and tragedy with a happy ending.
Q: How were his plays written?
A: His plays were written in poetic language. Many of them were set in strange distant places and times with exciting stories that made people want to know what would happen to the characters.
Q: What topics do his plays talk about?
A: His plays talk about things that are still important today such as love, sadness, hope, pride, hatred, jealousy and foolishness.
Q: Did he contribute anything else to English literature?
A: Yes! Shakespeare added new words and phrases to the English language by creating over 1,700 English words as well as making some words more popular.
