The Life of William Shakespeare Activity

Web Dropin #5

British Literature

K. Moyer

We will begin our study of the Renaissance by learning about the most famous poet and playwright of the time and quite arguably the greatest of all time. You know the name William Shakespeare for sure, but what do you know about his life. For this activity you will be using the web to research and create a timeline of Shakespeare’s life and writing. There are a few pieces of information that you must locate and some information that you will add to your list based on your good judgment of what kind of information is pertinent. Good luck!

Assignment: Begin by visiting http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html and reading about Shakespeare. Scan through some of the available links and important biographical information. Then, on a blank sheet of notebook paper, draw a vertical line down the length of your paper. At the top write #1, the date, Will is born, and where. At the bottom write #20, the date, Will died, and where. These are your beginning points and you must fill in the remaining information. You may choose the next 18 points to place in the timeline but you should remember that you want to try to be selective. Note the most important points of his life. Focus on his personal life, education, careers and writings. You must also include 3 pictures on your timeline that you feel are important in Shakespeare’s biographical information. Good luck!