All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.
The quote above was written by William Shakespeare, taken from Act 2, Scene 7 of his comedy As You Like It which was written in 1599. William Shakespeare is widely acknowledged as one of, if not the, greatest writer in the English language and the world's most preeminent dramatist's. He has written such works as: Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, Henry V, Midsummer Night's Dream and many many more including Plays, Comedies and Sonnets.
Image of the river Avon in Stratford-Upon-Avon taken today
Today we visited Stratford-Upon-Avon, England where Shakespeare was born in the year 1564. To be completely honest we are not huge Shakespeare fans, there's too many thees's and thou's in his writing for our tastes however it was important to come here nonetheless. The town itself is beautiful and quite interesting offering many opportunities to see architecture and history from the Tudor period however it's due to Stratford's most prominent former resident that most people come here, including us.
The image you see here is of the man himself, taken today within the house in which Shakespeare was born and lived in. Visitors have the opportunity to tour through his house (willed to him by his father) and the museum attached there also. People can also visit Anne Hathaway's home just out of Stratford which is where Shakespeare and Hathaway courted prior to marrying and Hall's Croft (within Stratford) where Susanna Hall (Shakespeare's daughter) and her husband John Hall lived.
From an historical perspective we found it very interesting of course and were interested to learn some facts about the man, his wife and children that we didn't know. It was all very tourist-oriented as you can imagine, however the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust do an amazing job at preserving the property and history of this important writer. Find their website here and discover more about what they do and how. Before leaving Stratford we went to the Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare was baptised, worshipped and where he is buried with his wife Anne. It is possible to view his grave, within the church, upon which is inscribed a curse, yes, a curse. It reads as follows:
Good friend for Jesus' sake forebear
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he who moves my bones.
So far they have not been moved so one can only assume the curse has been heeded since he was buried in 1616, aged 52 years.
We enjoyed our visit to Stratford-Upon-Avon, it's a beautiful, if busy, little town with quite a lot going on. There were many people taking canal boat rides and one can hire a small row boat or even powered boat to cruise around in on the river Avon. There's loads of food options from pubs, restaurants and cafe's to meal-deals at the local Sainsbury's...Something for everyone and every budget. One interesting feature is the lock that controls the water level in the canal. Stratford gives one a great chance to get up close to see how they work when a canal boat wants to go up, or down, a canal that has a higher or lower water level. I'm going to do a post on it someday because I find the canal's and their workings fascinating.
Remember back at the start of this post I said we are not really fans of Shakespeare's work? Well, nothing has changed after our visit to his birthplace today; I still don't love his work however as someone who loves writing, and reading I respect the man and his work greatly. To think that if William Shakespeare was born into a different family, a very poor country family for instance, maybe one of the greatest literary minds ever to have lived, would have been a swineherd, turnip farmer or soldier. Instead his words changes the way we speak today! I have read a few of William Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and King Lear and understand why people love them so much. I have even seen one of his plays live in a theatre and, again, understand the attraction they have to millions of people; I just can't seem to embrace it as other's do. As a lover of history though, I feel better having visited his hometown today and learned more about the man and his life. It was a good day. Oh, something I was interested to see today was that the people following the Shakespeare-trail were from all walks of life, age and nationality. There were so many young people reading plaques, engaging with his writing and story...It was great to see such an broad and avid interest in this historical figure.
Thanks for following our journey.
Faith & Galen x