by Beverley Davies

Created on: March 06, 2008

A lot of anachronistic supposition is made about Shakespeare. Both his sexuality and his fitness to produce his poetry and plays have been constantly questioned in our conspiracy-mad times. But an understanding of his education sheds light on both questions.

To paraphrase Dr Carol Rutter, speaking at the recent "Boys Event" at Shakespeare's Globe (2nd March 2008), for the Englishman watching an Elizabethan boy player masquerading as a girl, the reaction was unlikely to be of any sexual nature. Given the nature of his own grammar school days, it was probably more likely to evoke nostalgia. For Shakespeare's work contains many clear evocations of what he learnt at school.

Useful summaries of what Shakespeare learnt at school are available online (see http://www.likesnail.org.uk and http://www.shakespeare.org.uk).
Points to consider are:
1. Latin was the language of learning, though at just that time, the vernacular (English) was rapidly gaining in importance, with a growing number of acceptable translations available in print. The few vernacular English masterpieces were those produced by Gower (of Piers Plowman fame) and Chaucer (Troilus and Criseyde, Canterbury Tales etc.)
2. All books were revered objects, used by the literate minority for edification rather than fun.
3. Books specifically for the young were unthought of. Children were treated as mini-adults.
4. Learning was a privilege and a serious business. The school day began with prayers at six in the morning, continued until eleven, resumed at one, and finished at five. The poor lighting in the building boys were supposed to bring their own candles meant a grudging reduction of the working day in winter (to 7am to 4pm). A five and a half-day week, for 40 to 44 weeks of the year, meant that during the year boys spent at least 2,000 hours in school more than double the time spent nowadays at school in England. Some relief from the otherwise monotonous routine might be afforded by occasional interruptions during the week. On Mondays, the first business was an examination on the previous Sunday's sermon. Thursday afternoons were the weekly half-holiday, and Fridays were mainly devoted to revision of the week's work, repetitions and examinations. On Saturdays, boys learnt their catechisms, or perhaps practiced arithmetic. Much less eagerly awaited would be the 'enlivenment' on Friday when due punishment was meted out to the week's offenders.
4. An oral tradition still predominated. In that culture, (pre-Edison,

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