April 23, 2016 is an extremely important anniversary on the world literary calendar. It is universally known as the anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, but its significance is even greater than that. It also happens to be the anniversary of the death of another of the greatest writers in western literature. This year it is especially commemorated because it is the 400th anniversary of the death of both Shakespeare and Cervantes.
The very well known ‘Bard of Avon’ William Shakespeare (April 24, 1564 – April 23, 1616) who was born in Stratford, England, was the greatest writer of all time, writing in English. Miguel de Cervantes (September 29, 1547, circa, – April 23, 1616) was born in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and was the greatest writer in Spanish. His birth year – 1547 – is not certain, and some sources say he died on the April 22, but it has gone down in history as April 23.
Shakespeare was a playwright and a poet who wrote in his famous sonnets that immortality would be achieved in his “eternal lines;” “that in black ink” his “love may still shine bright;” and that beauty “shall in these black lines be seen/and they shall live and he in them still green.” He stated that his verses would defy time, and they are still doing that 400 years later. In addition to poetry and playwriting, he was a successful director, actor, producer and theatre manager who built and managed the Globe Theatre in London in 1599.
Cervantes’ extraordinary achievements were claimed as a novelist, although he was also a playwright, but struggled for a very long time to live by his art. So he worked in the service of king and country, as a tax collector and accountant, but mostly in a long military career.
