8-5LostYears

//Answered by Janel L.//// “The Lost Years” of Shakespeare’s life were very important. “The Lost Years” of his life were two different time periods that were basically unknown to the people. These years consisted from 1578-1582 and 1585-1592. During these time periods it was theorized that Shakespeare was going through hard times and people did not know much about him during this period. There are many traditions or stories in this time but there isn’t enough evidence to prove anything. An example of this is a story that tells why Shakespeare moved from Stratford to London. It was to believe that he was caught killing deer on the lands of Sir Thomas Lucy, a master of Charlecote. Shakespeare did not want to be arrested so he moved to London. Once again there is no evidence to prove that this was true. This also proves a point that they were many stories and myths about these time periods.

During the first period of “The Lost Years”, Shakespeare attended Grammar School. In Stratford the Grammar School only accepted students that were able to read. They had a “Petty School” which was attached to the Grammar School. A Petty School was basically a tutor that thought young children how to read. He had left Grammar School at an early age, 13. Normally boys went to school until the ages of 15 or 16. He was no longer able to attend because of his father's financial difficulties. He was later he married his wife, Anne Hathaway in November of 1582. Shakespeare was 18 years old and Anne was 26 years old. In this first period Shakespeare was believed to have three kids with Anne Hathaway. He went through many deaths in his family. He lost one of his children to a disease called the Black Death, his son Hamnet at age 11. Later his maternal grandfather also passed away during this time. This is only the first period of Shakespeare’s “Lost Years”.

In the second period of the “Lost Years” it consisted of Shakespeare perfecting his dramatic or acting skills. It also consisted of Shakespeare researching for the plots and characters in his upcoming plays. Many people did not know how Shakespeare was training himself to become a better actor and writer during this time as well. Many believe he became so popular after he went through his second period of his lost years. They believe this was the reason that he took so much time off to improve his works. Shakespeare was believed to be a schoolteacher in London for some time. Some people in the town that Shakespeare grew up often visited the London acting schools because they believed that was Shakespeare’s way of improving. So many things in Shakespeare’s life happened, some by myth and some by history.

media type="youtube" key="91ZHGV-hK5g" height="344" width="425"

Works Cited: Best, Michael. "William Shakespeare: The Second Lost Years." __William Shakespeare: The__

__Complete Works__. 2005. [[http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare- lost-years-1585-

1592.htm|http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare- lost-years-1585-1592.htm]].//

"William Shakespeare: The Second Lost Years." __William Shakespeare: The Complete Works__.

2005. .

Mibillard, Amanda. "Shakespeare of Stratford." __Shakespeare Online__. 16 May 2007.

[].