His work was hardly limited to strict classical idioms, however; he successfully utilized a much broader range of literary sources than any of his contemporaries. His history plays, for example, borrow heavily from contemporary English histories, and his comedies often incorporate aspects of English folklore. Moreover, Shakespeare's extraordinary linguistic abilities--his gift for complex poetic imagery, mixed metaphor, and brilliant puns--combined with a penetrating insight into human nature, are widely recognized as the makings of a unique literary genius. Shakespeare's dramatic imagination and unparalleled ability to capture and express universal concerns led his contemporary Ben Jonson to declare that Shakespeare "was not of an age, but for all time."
Shakespeare's Life and Times
Shakespeare was probably born on April 23, 1564, though the precise date of his birth is uncertain. His father, John Shakespeare, belonged to the merchant class; with increasing prosperity, he acquired a series of municipal offices in Stratford-upon-Avon. His wife, Mary Arden, came from a yeoman family of slightly higher social standing and was a minor heiress to some land in Warwickshire. It is thought that Shakespeare attended the local grammar school, the King's New School, where the main course of instruction was in Latin. There, students were taught rhetoric, logic, and ethics and studied works by classical authors Terence, Plautus, Cicero, Virgil, Plutarch, Horace, and Ovid.
