Little Known, Unknown & Interesting Facts about William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare who is the most quoted person in the world was born in 1564; the date is unknown to all. He is considered to have an extensive vocabulary; the word “assassination” was invented by him and there are several common phrases which we use in our daily life which was originally penned down by him like – All that glitters is not gold; All’s well that ends well; Bated breath; Fool’s paradise; Heart of gold; Knock knock! Who’s there? Laughing stock; Neither rhyme nor reason; wear my heart upon my sleeve; What’s in a name? Naked truth and many more, the list continues. There are some unknown and very interesting facts about William Shakespeare. So let’s dwell into the area which will make an interesting reading about Shakespeare.

Interesting Facts about William Shakespeare

#1: Family

He got married at the age of 18 to Anne Hathaway who was almost eight years older to him and the most controversial part is that it is believed that during their marriage Anne was already three months pregnant. They first had a baby girl and then twins; a boy and a girl.

#2: Education

It is believed that he never attended any college and also his family members were also illiterate.

#3: Start of poetry

During the period of 1592 – 1594 there was an outbreak of plague so all the shows were cancelled as it was believed that disease will spread rapidly in crowded place. So during that time Shakespeare started writing poetry as there was no demand of plays.

#4: Career graph

He wrote his first play at the age of 25 years old but he began his career working as an actor. He wrote 37 plays in total, 154 sonnets and 2 long narrative poems. He was interested in staging his plays rather than getting it printed or read. He retired from theatre in 1613.

#5: Inspiration

He has borrowed ideas from history, earlier plays and poems to write his plays.

#6: Lost manuscript

As he wrote his plays for performance on stage and most of them were written hastily so none of the original manuscripts exist.

#7: Lost years

From the time when he moved to London till the year 1592 there is almost no information about his whereabouts so it is often termed as “the lost years”

#8: Globe Theater

In 1597, the theater was forced to close down where The Lord Chamberlain’s Men performed as it was on lease so many of the partners contributed in building a new theater in the bank of Thames River and is known as The Globe.

#9: End of an era

He died in 1616 and the words inscribed in his grave reads – “Curst be he that moves my bones”

#10: First Folio

7 years after his death, two of his associates John Heminges and Henry Condell published the first volume of his plays called the First Folio which consists of 26 of the 28 plays that is attributed to him.

There were the interesting facts about Interesting Facts about William Shakespeare but the most interesting thing is that we use many phrase without knowing that it is actually the quotes of Shakespeare. Some of the famous quotes are – The world’s my oyster, Wild Goose Chase and the most popular and the most used one is surely this one which says Love is blind. So next time you are using any such phrase you will be reminded of him and how he has become a part and parcel of our life without our knowledge.