ShakespearesChildhood2


 * What is known about Shakespeare's childhood? What was Shakespeare's early life and education like in Stratford-Upon-Avon? What was daily like like in Stratford-Upon-Avon? What in his early years may have influenced his life and career? Who are the Queen's Men and what role might they have played in Shakespeare's early years?**
 * Answer prepared by: Catherine J**

 When Shakespeare was growing up in Elizabethan England, we might think that life was quite different than what you might imagine. On the contrary, some traditions that were developed in this time continue on today and we find them in our daily lives to be somewhat significant. This time was discrete from our time because of the way people thought of activities or people. For example, most people did not go to school before Queen Elizabeth came to reign, and if they did, most of them would always be boys and not many girls would come. Presently, children all go to school and it is both genders equally. Life in Elizabethan England was quite separate than how we live today. This makes it quite interesting to take a journey through those times, and picture yourself living in these cities or urban areas, picture yourself in upper class or lower class, and learn what it would be like to live there opposed to your current lifestyle.

In London, education was a very simple process of just a few schools you went to, much like we go to lower, middle, and high schools. Back then, as a five to seven year old boy in Elizabethan England, you would attend a petty school where you would read and write in English and learn lessons on behavior. This would be of course, if you did not have enough money to pay a private tudor for your child, which many of the elite children had. If you reached the age of eight, you would move on to a grammar school where Latin would be taught and grammar would be taught as well. After this grammar school, the boys would go to a second grammar school and be taught more Latin, some Greek and religious lessons. This schooling process was just for the middle class though because the upper class would often have tutors to teach their children. The lower class often could not afford the small fee that you needed to attend these schools, so they would not have education. Thus, education was not the most valuable thing to have in this time, but now it is. Additionally, we know that education is not the same for every class, just like out lives today, so we do find some things in common, which makes it all the more absorbing to learn about.

Like our cities today, Elizabethan England had some rural areas and some more urban areas. These areas had very different lifestyles, just like we might if we lived in different parts of the city. In the urban areas, there usually were paved streets. These streets were surrounded on either side by buildings. Though not very tall, they were full of stores, houses and other businesses. The cities also had a very large gate around them usually, and you had to pay a toll to get inside them. On the other hand, the rural areas were not too packed with people and had more natural resources. Here, hunting, fishing, mining, and farming were very popular lifestyles, and everything was much more spread out and separate.

Also, the way of life was always classified into different classes. There were noblemen, citizens, and the lower end of society. These groups are much like our separate groups of society, and they lived different lifestyles depending on how much money they had. This shows again how much the way of life was similar then and now, and how we got some of our traditions from things that they used to go in the early times of Elizabethan England.

 This picture is an example of the cities of England that were very populated



This is a grammar school much the ones that boys and girls would go to for their early education


 * [[image:File?id=df75h2w_30chjtp5gk_b width="648" height="248.701" align="left"]]

This is the Latin alphabet that the kids would learn in the grammar schools they went to as young boys and girls

Works Cited:** Stewart B., Gail. Life in Elizabethan England. 1. 1. Lucent Books, October 2002. 112. Print.

Hinds, Kathryn. Life in Elizabethan England: The countryside. 1. 1. New York City: Benchmark Books, November 15, 2007. Print.

Hinds, Kathryn. Life in Elizabethan England: The city. 1. 1. New York City: Benchmark Books, November 15, 2007. 80. Print.