William Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet is a story of two star-crossed lovers. Though Romeo and Juliet is a triumph of dramatic lyricism, its tragic ending usurps most other aspects of the play and abandons us to unhappy estimates of whether, and to what degree, its young lovers are responsible for their own catastrophe (Bloom 87). The idealistic way that love is portrayed in this play is apparent and although it makes for a good story it has had a hand in shaping the modern idea of love. Only a great mind could have thought up a masterpiece such as Romeo and Juliet, a great mind that without a doubt was not lacking in the least, inspiration or creativity. In fact Shakespeare was compared to Homer and recognized as one of the classic English poets in 1598 by Francis Meres of Palladis, Tamia (Brooke 25). As the person who is behind the modern idea of love, Shakespeare passed on a life full of idealism through the generations with the use of his masterpieces. !
             Being constantly repeated by several different sources, the idea of love, as being blind and somewhat rushed into, Shakespeare's idea of love lives on and on penetrating our every day conception of what love should be. It is stated best by Harold Bloom, "Love as we think of it has been taught to us by Shakespeare"(90). It is also believed that the idea of love in the play Romeo and Juliet is but an imitation of life. The drama portrays the passionate, violent and often desperate lives of the youth of Verona, Italy. Even today, the tragedy resembles a blueprint of the problems that adolescents of the twentieth century must face each day (Polachuk 1). Shakespeare's life had a great impact on today's idealism through the masterpiece Romeo and Juliet, in shaping the modern idea of love.
             Shakespeare led a very full and giving life filled with inspiration that has most definitely affected his ability and his chances to write...