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 18

by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

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5      <firstname>William</firstname>
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9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1564</date>
10      <date ty="death" circa="false" suffix="ad">1616</date>
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16

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

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Poets Book of Days

April 23

It is widely held that William Shakespeare was born this day in 1564. It is a matter of historical record that he did die on this day, 1616

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Poetry Trivia

Question:

This is one poet's epitaph: "The poetic genius of my country found me at the plough and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my native soil, in my native tongue. I tuned my wild, artless notes as she inspired" Whose is it?

Answer

Robert Burns.

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