Amusing the Muse

To write or not to write…that is the question!, Fortunately (or depending on how you view it, perhaps unfortunately), that was not a question William Shakespeare a.k.a The Bard asked himself before he set forth to write 37 odd plays and 154 even poems! In the following few e-zines, we will be exploring some of the poems and plays his pen has…er…penned. But before we begin this daunting task of reading Shakespeare the Poet, perhaps it would be a wise move to know more about Shakespeare, the man.

Fossil Records

To learn about the life of Shakespeare is akin to learning about the life of a Stegosaurus by excavating and studying its fossil records. In the event, we’d probably end up knowing more about the Stegosaurus than about Shakespeare, for the dinosaur left far more records than the Bard! We owe much of the information that we have about William Shakespeare, to genealogists and literary buffs (note: not buffoons), who for some reason, believed their lives were the worthier for trying to learn about the poet! Why they were thus convinced we shall never know, but as a great man once said, it takes all kinds to make up this world, and these ardent students may only be described as one such species that make it up.

Be that as it may, we learn from their studies, that the name Shakespeare (spelt variously as Shaxper, Shakesper, even Shaxberd) was very common during the Sixteenth century. In fact, one of the earliest Shakespeares was hanged in Gloucestershire for theft in 1248! This Hanging Shakespeare has since been traced to be among the early ancestors of the poet, and as some detractors aver, the origin of the Bard’s own literary kleptomaniac tendencies.

We also know that the Bard’s father, while applying for a coat-of-arms claimed his grandfather was a hero of the War of the Roses. No historical evidence, however, is available to corroborate this fact, although it does prove that the art of embellishing a resume while applying for something is not a latter day invention of job-trotting software professionals.

The Bard's paternal grandfather was Richard Shakespeare, a farmer in Snitterfield, a village four miles northeast of Stratford. There is no record of Richard Shakespeare before 1529, but this does not necessarily mean the man did not exist before the said year. There is no record of Richard Shakespeare's wife either, but since he had two sons (possibly more) it is reasonable to assume he had at least one wife (possibly more?). John Shakespeare, one of these two sons, came to Stratford before 1532 as an apprentice glover and tanner. He was successful, and expanded his business into wool and farm products. He bought a lot of property, and more importantly, managed to marry Mary Arden, daughter of the wealthy Robert Arden of Wilmecote, the surest sign of a successful man!

Happy Birthday, Will…um…when exactly?

To Mary and John was born, among other children, William Shakespeare. The exact date and place of his birth are not known, leading to some detractors of the Bard make use of this unhappy chance to propound the theory that he was therefore never born! Recognizing that this is a tad too extreme, we can happily subscribe to the traditional belief that he was born on St. George’s Day - April 23^rd 1564. And the fact that he also died the same day – several years later, that is – lends an exciting, and esoteric highlight to the otherwise mundane details of his life.

Lost Years

The growing up years are lost in history. In fact, one marvels as to how little is actually known of the man, save his plays and poems. It is possible that he attended school at Stratford till his father’s financial difficulties made him, what we would call a “drop-out”, but not before he had picked up “the small Latin and less Greek”. There are innumerable suggestions as to what he did after dropping out of school, and to accept all of the plausible theories would admit to discussing the professions of all the men in Statford on Avon, for legend has it that he might have been a butcher, a glover, a tanner, a schoolmaster, a lawyer, and/or an actor. There is also a possibility that he stole a deer belonging to a Sir Thomas Lucy and fled Stratford to escape prison.

I Do, She does…and…er…so does the baby!!!

The only thing we do know for certain of these “lost years” is the fact that he married Anne Hathaway, who was six months pregnant with his child. As all things Shakespeare, the marriage too is mired in controversy. For there are two records, the first of which shows his intent to marry an Anne Whateley while the second that confirms his marriage to Anne Hathaway. Theorists, eager to inject an aura of mystery and intrigue into the Bard’s life, have forwarded a theory that he probably wanted to marry the former, but because of an indiscretion and a subsequent attack of conscience, ended up marrying the latter, who at 26 was 8 years older than William Shakespeare.

There, of course is, another more straightforward and demystifying possibility –maintaining records was not the most exciting or demanding of professions, and it is entirely possible that the clerk, who made the entry in the Church registers, could have been thinking of several things ranging from dinner to a jolly night with Miss Whatizhername, and hence had been a little relaxed with the names.

More Lost Years

After marriage and a few children, we encounter another mysterious blank in the history, a blank that we shall dub once more, as another set of the “lost years”. In fact, this is something we have to get used to, and even feel comfortable with, for as Charles Dickens said, “It is a great comfort, to my way of thinking, that so little is known concerning the poet. The life of Shakespeare is a fine mystery, and I tremble every day lest something should turn up." But the next we hear of him is when Robert Greene, a London playwright of his times, went green with envy and referred to Shakespeare as “an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers”. This was the first of the accusations that have been levelled against the Bard that he simply passed off as his own, the works of others. An accusation, we wish to add, that still finds supporters to this day.

A crow comes to roost

Greene’s caustic comments, notwithstanding, the Bard had already begun to make his mark in the theatre, as an actor, playwright and as a managing partner in operations of a drama company called Lord Chamberlain’s Men. During the seven years that elapsed between the marriage and Greene’s comment, one can only assume Shakespeare had been perfecting his dramatic skills, and collecting plots for his subsequent plays. His company was the most successful in London in his day. He had plays published and sold in octavo editions, or "penny-copies" to the more literate of his audiences. It is noted that never before had a playwright enjoyed sufficient acclaim to see his works published and sold as popular literature in the midst of his career. The upstart crow had finally arrived!

He had a fine run in the theatre and as a poet. In fact, his fame grew as a poet with his famous sonnets, and when he retired in 1611, he had already been acclaimed and feted. He died on April 23, 1616 – the same day as his alleged day of birth and is buried in the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, his epitaph holding a final curse to all that dare to disturb his slumber!

Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
But cursed be he that moves my bones.

Hopefully, this article and the subsequent ones do not make him turn in his grave! Does that count as moving the bones, one wonders!