William Shakespeare as the Greatest Genius in British Literature

William Shakespeare as the Greatest Genius in British Literature

Even after four centuries, the literary world remains to uphold Shakespeare as the greatest genius in British literature. While best known as a dramatist, Shakespeare was also a distinguished poet. Shakespeare's extraordinary gifts for complex poetic imagery, mixed metaphor, and intelligent puns, along with insight into human nature are the characteristics that created the legend he is today.

The following essay will address how Shakespeare contributed to modern playwright, the point in time when Shakespeare wrote some of his great plays, which was the Elizabethan era, and the beginning of his acting and playwright career, had influences with William Shakespeare. When you consider the influence of Shakespeare on the modern playwright, it cannot mean purely the choice of plots, since Shakespeare borrowed them from other sources and from history. The lessons he teaches are not merely narrative or certainly those of architecture but individual ones of texture. Shakespeare was an actor, whether great or even good is of no importance. What is certain is that he had to have been a very interesting actor to write works such as King Lear and The Comedy of Errors. He knew in the most delicate detail the possibilities of the actor's skills and elevated them to the level of the great ("Everything Shakespeare" np).

He lived at a time when sophistication of audiences had not yet come to demand such plays without impurities, so far more had to be assigned to the domain of imagination. When there were battles, the battles are shown in isolated parts of the conflicts. The suggestive powers of the actor demanded a far greater burden then they do today, for time and space ha...

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...h continual interest through his endless contributions.

Bibliography:

Bibliography

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to the Complete Tragedies, Histories, Comedies, and Romances. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

Evans, Gareth, and Barbara Lloyd Evans. The

Shakespeare Companion. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1978.

"Everything Shakespeare: History." Online

http://www.field-ofothemes.com/shakespeare/shakehis.html. 26 Nov. 1999.

Martin, Michael Rheta, and Richard C. Harrier. The Concise Encyclopedic

Guide to Shakespeare. New York: Horizon Press, 1971.

. Rowse, A.L. William Shakespeare: A Biography. New York:

Harper and Row, 1963

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http://www.bardweb.net/man.html. 26 Nov. 1999.