Saturday the 16th of April is believed to be the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare (he is thought to have died on his 52nd birthday).
His death wasn’t front-page news in 1616. In fact, it was barely noted, unless you happened to be in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, his birthplace.
He was buried in the Holy Trinity Church, the Shakespeares’ parish, where the baptismal register had an entry in 1564 that read, “Gulielmus filius Johannes Shakespeare.”
He also penned his own epitaph, a final verse: “Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbeare / to dig the dust encloséd here. / Blessed be the man who spares these stones, / and cursed be he who moves my bones.”
Some of the best courses I took in college were the honor seminars with world wide experts in Shakespeare. Informative, challenging and funny. I only hope that I instilled love of Shakespeare in at least some of my students.
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