SHAKESPEARE THE GREAT

This year marks the 453 rd anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, as well as the 401 st anniversary of his death. Both of these monumental events occurred in the English village of Stratford-upon- Avon, where Shakespeare’s life came full circle before his death in 1616. In his youth, however, Shakespeare took off for London in excitement, to pursue a life in the theatre. The busy city was a brave new world for this country lad, but Shakespeare didn’t lie low. Besides becoming a well-known actor, he wrote dozens of magnificent plays and more than 150 poems and other works, leading countless bedazzled readers ever since to call him the world’s greatest playwright and poet, the be-all and end- all of great English literature! Others are more critical, saying it’s almost laughable to think that someone with only a high school education could have written such majestic works. In their mind’s eye , to credit it all to one man is too much of a good thing, and they are deeply suspicious. However, disproving Shakespeare’s authorship has been a wild-goose chase so far. Without any proof, his supporters refuse to budge an inch in their belief that Shakespeare wrote each and every word credited to him. Shakespeare added more than 1,700 new words and phrases to the English language, with many still in use. Research has found that he may not have invented all of them, but he certainly made them popular. Want to hear something zany ? This article contains many of the words and phrases that Shakespeare created. How many can you figure out? This game is not for the gloomy or faint-hearted . You could wind up in such a pickle! (Reading text adapted from the WP)