Who was Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet based on?

eset

In Ovid's Metamorphoses there is a story entitled "Pyramus and Thisbe" that has a similar plotline, though Shakespeare modernized it. We know he was familiar with the story because in A Midsummer Night's Dream he has some of the characters putting on a play version of the story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramus_and_Thisbe [Added reference link - McG] Apr 08 04, 8:22 AM

sal16

The play 'Romeo and Juliet' was based on a poem called 'The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet' written by a poet called Arthur Brooke. "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet is a narrative poem, first published in 1562 by Arthur Brooke, who is reported to have translated it from an Italian poem by Bandello. Romeus and Juliet was the key source for William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Little is known about Arthur Brooke, except that he drowned in 1563 by shipwreck while crossing to help Protestant forces in France." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tragical_History_of_Romeus_and_Juliet [Added reference - McG] May 03 09, 5:32 AM