When was William Shakespeare born ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. 26 April 1564
Explanation
Church parish records document that William Shakespeare was baptized on the twenty-sixth of April in fifteen sixty-four. Historical custom during that era dictated that infants were typically baptized three days after birth. Biographers therefore traditionally deduce his actual birthday as occurring three days earlier on April twenty-third. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to parents John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. The Holy Trinity Church in Stratford maintains the original parish register containing his baptismal entry. Elizabethan record-keeping practices relied heavily on church baptisms rather than official civil birth certificates.
Accurate biographical dates help literary historians contextualize the historical timeline of Elizabethan theatrical developments. Knowing his birth era illuminates the social and political climate that heavily influenced his dramatic writing. Schoolchildren worldwide celebrate his traditional birth anniversary on April twenty-third every single year. April twenty-sixth, fifteen sixty-seven is incorrect because parish registers explicitly confirm the year as fifteen sixty-four. The year fifteen sixty-six contradicts the verified baptismal records preserved in the Stratford church archives. Fifteen sixty-five is historically inaccurate since church documents clearly place his baptism in the spring of fifteen sixty-four.
- Subject
- English
- Category
- English Literature
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
Related questions
Q1. Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” opens with these verses: “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?/ Only the monstrous anger of the guns./ Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle/Can patter out their hasty orisons.” Which interpretation best fits these lines ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: C. These lines equate humans with animals, and they anthropomorphize weapons to show a world where there is no place for human values.
Owen's stark opening lines intentionally compare young soldiers dying in the trenches to unvalued slaughterhouse livestock. The poem simultaneously transforms mechanical rifles and guns into monstrous entities that mock...
Q2. Why was the alliterative revival tied to nationalism and a sense of nostalgia ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. Alliterative poetry was associated with a world before the French influence, a world before the Conquest
The alliterative revival looked back to native Germanic poetic traditions before Norman dominance. Writers embraced old accentual verse forms to evoke a nostalgic sense of authentic English identity. This stylistic choic...
Q3. What early American literary genre is represented by William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. Spiritual diary
Williams Bradfords chronicle functions as a spiritual diary recording divine interventions in colonial daily life. The text meticulously details historical events while interpreting them through a distinct providential r...
Q4. Why do the majority of scholars presume that Radcliffe favored “explained supernaturalism” ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: A. Her sense of morality and decorum
Ann Radcliffe deliberately ensured every seemingly supernatural event received a logical explanation to satisfy contemporary moral expectations. She adhered strictly to eighteenth century literary decorum which valued di...
Q5. William Blake’s /Songs of ‘counterbalance his ‘Songs of Experience’ ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: D. Innocence
William Blake created Songs of Innocence to counterbalance his darker collection Songs of Experience. These paired books explore contrasting spiritual states representing the two contrary conditions. Innocence provides a...
Q6. What was the primary occupation of William Shakespeare’s father ?
Show answer Hide answer
Answer: C. A glover
John Shakespeare successfully worked as a glover and local tradesman in the town of Stratford. Historical records from Stratford-upon-Avon confirm his profession as a leather worker and glove maker. Documentary evidence...