First Folio

First Folio

William Shakespeare, the prolific and preeminent writer of plays and sonnets in England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries, represents the spread of plays throughout Europe and especially England during the Early Modern period. Most people preferred plays in the slapstick style of Commedia dell’Arte, but there is evidence that even Shakespeare’s tragedies were widely enjoyed. Plays allowed ordinary, often illiterate people to experience literature. However, there is very little evidence of the lives of non-literate people during this time period. Shakespeare’s plays are representative of the oral tradition of the Early Modern period and the importance of plays in transferring cultural heritage among people who could not read.

William Shakespeare

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1623