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William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare ( c. 23 [a] April 1564 – 23 April 1616) [b] was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. [4] [5] [6] He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard").
- When Was Shakespeare born?
- Parents and Siblings
- Childhood and Education
- Histories
- Tragedies
- Comedies
- Collaborations and Lost Play
- When Did Shakespeare Die?
- First Folio
- Did Shakespeare Write His Own Plays?
No birth records exist, but an old church record indicates that William Shakespeare was baptized at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon on April 26, 1564. From this, it is believed he was born on or near April 23, 1564, and this is the date scholars acknowledge as Shakespeare’s birthday. Located about 100 miles northwest of London, Stratford...
Shakespeare was the third child of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker and leather merchant, and Mary Arden, a local heiress to land. John held official positions as alderman and bailiff, an office resembling a mayor. However, records indicate John’s fortunes declined sometime in the late 1570s. Eventually, he recovered somewhat and was granted a coat ...
Scant records exist of Shakespeare’s childhood and virtually none regarding his education. Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King’s New School, in Stratford, which taught reading, writing, and the classics, including Latin. He attended until he was 14 or 15 and did not continue to university. The uncertainty regarding his educ...
Many of Shakespeare’s first plays were histories. All three Henry VI plays, Richard II, and Henry V dramatize the destructive results of weak or corrupt rulers and have been interpreted by drama historians as Shakespeare’s way of justifying the origins of the Tudor Dynasty. Other histories include Richard III, King John, the two Henry IV plays, and...
Although Shakespeare wrote three tragedies, including Romeo and Juliet, before 1600, it wasn’t until after the turn of the century that he truly explored the genre. Character in Othello, King Lear, and Macbethpresent vivid impressions of human temperament that are timeless and universal. Possibly the best known of these plays is Hamlet, which explo...
Shakespeare wrote comedies throughout his career, including his first play The Taming of the Shrew. Some of his other early comedies, written before 1600 or so, are: the whimsical A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the romantic Merchant of Venice, the wit and wordplay of Much Ado About Nothing, and the charming As You Like It. Some of his comedies might be...
Shakespeare is known to have created plays with other writers, such as John Fletcher. They co-wrote The Two Noble Kinsmen around 1613–14, making it Shakespeare’s last known dramatic work. They also collaborated on Cardenio, a play which was not preserved. Shakespeare’s other jointly written plays are Sir Thomas More and The Raigne of King Edward th...
Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday, April 23, 1616, but some scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at Holy Trinity Church on April 25, 1616. The exact cause of Shakespeare’s death is unknown, though many people believe he died following a brief illness. In his will, he left the bulk of his poss...
Although some of Shakespeare’s works were printed in his lifetime, not all were. It is because of the First Folio that we know about 18 of Shakespeare’s plays, including Macbeth, Twelfth Night, and Julius Caesar. John Heminge and Henry Condell, two of Shakespeare’s friends and fellow actors in the King’s Men, created the 36-play collection, which c...
About 150 years after his death, questions arose about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. Scholars and literary critics began to float names like Christopher Marlowe, Edward de Vere, and Francis Bacon—men of more known backgrounds, literary accreditation, or inspiration—as the true authors of the plays. Much of this stemmed from the sketchy det...
Apr 8, 2024 · William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England—died April 23, 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon) is the poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet. He is considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.
Oct 3, 2011 · Learn about the life and works of William Shakespeare, the greatest English-speaking writer in history and England's national poet. Explore his childhood, family, plays, poems, lost years, career, legacy and more.
Learn about the life, works, and legacy of William Shakespeare, the most influential English writer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages. Find out when and where he was born, how he died, and what he wrote in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Explore his family, school, career, and patronage.
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Learn about the life and works of William Shakespeare, the most influential playwright in the history of the English language. Explore his birth, childhood, marriage, family, theater career, and final years in Stratford and London. Find primary sources, essays, and a timeline of his life.
Life of William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare was an actor, playwright, poet, and theatre entrepreneur in London during the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. He was baptised on 26 April 1564 [a] in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England, in the Holy Trinity Church. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had ...
