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William Shakespeare

In spite of his eminence as the greatest English poet—and perhaps the greatest poet anywhere, ever—we know relatively little about Shakespeare's life. He came from Stratford-upon-Avon, where his father was a prominent

Sonnet 20

by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<author>
3  <person id="10693" sex="1" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>William</firstname>
6      <lastname>Shakespeare</lastname>
7    </name>
8    <life-events>
9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1564</date>
10      <date ty="death" circa="false" suffix="ad">1616</date>
11      <text-value>(1564–1616)</text-value>
12    </life-events>
13    <biography>y</biography>
14  </person>
15</author>
16

 A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted 
 Hast thou, the master-mistress of my passion; 
 A woman's gentle heart, but not acquainted 
 With shifting change, as is false women's fashion: 
 An eye more bright than theirs, less false in rolling, 
 Gilding the object whereupon it gazeth; 
 A man in hue, all ‘hues’ in his controlling, 
 Which steals men's eyes and women's souls amazeth. 
 And for a woman wert thou first created; 

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