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England in Shakespeare’s Day [p. 683]
William Shakespeare is the greatest _Poet_ of all time.
He lived in the country of _England_ during the
_Renissance_.
He was born in the year __1564_, when _Elizabeth I_ was queen of England.
England was established as a world power in 1588, when English defeated an attempted invasion by _Spanish_Armada_.
Plays in which dialogue is mostly poetry is called _Verse drama_.

Theatre in Shakespeare’s Day [p.684]
In the 1590’s, Shakespeare’s theater group was called the Lord
_Camberlains Men__.
The new London home of the group was a place called the Globe Theater.
When Queen Elizabeth I died, the group’s new sponsor was King James I, and the group changed its name to The Kings men.
The Globe Theater was located on the banks of the Thames River.
The theatre was three stories high, made of wood, and could hold as many as 3,000 spectators. Customers, called theatergoers stood in the pit by the stage and paid t he lowest price for admission. Richer patrons sat in balconies, also called galleries.
Most theatres in that day had no artificial lighting or heating, so performances were given in daylight in warmer weather.

Many commonly quoted phrases came from Shakespeare’s plays. Some examples are:
“friends, romans, countrymen, lend me your ear” from Julius Caesar
“O Romeo Romeo, where for art thou Romeo?”from Romeo and Juliet
“To be or not to be?”from Hamlet