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It is because of his plays that Shakespeare is now considered the greatest English writer in history. The era in which he lived, Elizabethan England, was a time in which broad interests and creativity could flourish. Elizabeth, the queen, was beloved by her subjects and proved to be a powerful and able ruler. Under the reign of Elizabeth, England changed from an island kingdom to an expanding empire. England grew rich through trade. 16th-century Englishmen traveled to the New World and to Africa. Music, dance, poetry, painting, and architecture flourished; but the art form in which Elizabethan England distinguished the rest of Europe was the theater.
The theater, which had practically disappeared from Europe, was, at this time, received as a part of the church service. Later, no longer as a part of the service, the "mystery plays" responded to popular taste by adding more and more comic elements. In England, they were sponsored by various trade guilds and presen
A. first appeared in England
B. had various types
C. were only sponsored by the nobility
D. followed two classical rules