Shakespeare by peter ackroyd

  • A magnificent achievement, SHAKESPEARE will command popular success, scholarly acclaim and vast sales - truly comparable to LONDON.
  • The author tracks Shakespeare's career as an actor, poet, and playwright.
  • Peter Ackroyd surely re-creates the world that shaped Shakespeare--and brings the playwright himself into unusually vivid focus.
  • Summary and Reviews of Shakespeare by Peter Ackroyd

    Chapter 1 
    There Was a Starre Daunst, and Under That Was I Borne


    William Shakespeare is popularly supposed to have been born on 23 April 1564, or St. George's Day. The date may in fact have been 21 April or 22 April, but the coincidence of the national festival is at least appropriate.

    When he emerged from the womb into the world of time, with the assistance of a midwife, an infant of the sixteenth century was washed and then "swaddled" by being wrapped tightly in soft cloth. Then he was carried downstairs in order to be presented to the father. After this ritual greeting, he was taken back to the birth-chamber, still warm and dark, where he was laid beside the mother. She was meant to "draw to her all the diseases from the child," before her infant was put in a cradle. A small portion of butter and honey was usually placed in the baby's mouth. It was the custom in Warwickshire to give the suckling child

    VOL. 4: THE ONLIE BEGETTER.
    Literary Stardom and Royal Patronage.
    (c. 1601 - death, 1616)


    Peter Ackroyd's insightful new biography positions Shakespeare in the close context of his world. In this way, Ackroyd not only richly conjures up the texture of Shakespeare's life, but also imparts an amazing amount of vivid, interesting material about place, period and background. Walk with Ackroyd through sixteenth century London and Stratford as he uncovers the intimate circumstances of Shakespeare's life. Discover the theatrical world in which Shakespeare had his being - not just Shakespeare the actor but the other actors, playwrights, and managers that surrounded him. And journey to Stratford to meet Shakespeare the family man, whose private life had such an impact on his work that the strongest bond in his plays is always between father and daughter.

    About Peter Ackroyd

    Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning historian, biographer, novelist, poet and broadcaster. He is the

  • shakespeare by peter ackroyd
  • Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile bygd the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where you can share the first paragraph or (a few) of a book you are reading or thinking about reading soon.

    In my gods post inom mentioned Peter Ackroyd’s biography of William Shakespeare when deciding which book to read next. As soon as I began the first chapter inom knew that this fryst vatten the next non fiction book I’ll be reading.

    The first paragraph is:

    William Shakespeare is popularly supposed to have been born on 23 April 1564, or St George’s Day. The date may in fact have been 21 April or 22 April, but the coincidence of the national festival is at least appropriate.

    But it fryst vatten the second paragraph that caught my attention, after all Shakespeare’s birthday or supposed birthday was not a surprise to me. The second paragraph, however, gives me information inom hadn’t known before:

    When he emerged from the womb into the world of time, with the assistance of