William Shakespeare. Jennifer Bassett

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      JENNIFER BASSETT

      William Shakespeare

      WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

      Stratford-upon-Avon, 1578. A boy is sitting at a schooldesk. He listens to the teacher, reads his books, learns his lessons. What is he thinking about?

      London, 1587. A young man is riding into London for the first time. He listens to the noise of the crowded streets, sees the great walls of the Tower of London, looks down at the waters of the River Thames. ‘Sweet Thames, run softly, till I end my song.’

      London, 1601. The boatmen on the River Thames are shouting to the crowds: ‘Hurry, hurry, hurry! The Globe theatre is filling fast!’ Two thousand people are crossing the river to see the latest play – Hamlet, by William Shakespeare.

      This story about Shakespeare’s life is told by his friend Toby. Toby is not a real person – perhaps Shakespeare had a friend like that, but we don’t know. But all the other characters in the story were real people, who knew Will Shakespeare as a friend, actor, poet, and playwright. ‘Gentle Shakespeare,’ they called him, and they knew he was the greatest poet in England. His friend Ben Jonson wrote of him:

      ‘He was not of an age, but for all time.’

      For my father

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First published in Oxford Bookworms 1993

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ISBN 978 0 19 479076 5

A complete recording of this Bookworms edition of William Shakespeare is available on audio CD ISBN 978 0 19 478999 8

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Original illustrations by: Richard Allen

The publishers would like to thank the following for their permission to reproduce illustrations:

Alamy Images pp15 (Henry Wriothesley 3rd Earl of Southampton/The Art Gallery Collection), 23 (Shakespeare New Place drawing/Mary Evans Picture Library), 30 (Title page for Hamlet/Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library); Bridgeman Art Library Ltd pp17 (God's Tokens, A Rod for Runaways, 1625, English School / Private Collection), 26 (The Kitchener Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, c.1550, English School / Private Collection / © Mallett Gallery, London, UK), 36 (Portrait of Richard Burbage, English School / © Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK), 40 (Ben Jonson, Blyenberch, Abraham van / Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, CA, USA / © The Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens); Corbis pp3 (Birthplace of William Shakespeare/Roger de la Harpe), 35 (Portrait of King James I/Bettmann), 48 (Portrait of William Shakespeare by Martin Droeshout), 60 (Actors in Shakespeare's Globe Theatre/Steven Vidler/Eurasia Press); Getty Images p21 (1623 edition of William Shakespeare's First Folio/Graeme Robertson); The Art Archive p10 (View of London, engraving by Cornelis Visscher, 1616)

Word count (main text): 9135 words

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e-Book ISBN 978 0 19 478677 5

e-Book first published 2012