William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His surviving works include some 39 plays and 154 sonnets that continue to be performed and studied around the world. [1]
Early life
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and baptised on 26 April of that year. He was educated at the local grammar school, and in 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. [1]
Career in London
By the early 1590s Shakespeare was working in London as an actor and playwright. He became a leading member and part-owner of the playing company known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later the King's Men, which performed at the Globe Theatre. Over about two decades he wrote the comedies, histories and tragedies that made his reputation. [2]
Works
His plays range from comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night to histories including Henry V and to the great tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. He also wrote narrative poems and a sequence of 154 sonnets. His command of language, character and dramatic structure has shaped literature and theatre ever since. [1][3]
Later life and legacy
Shakespeare retired to Stratford in his final years and died there in 1616. Seven years later two colleagues collected his plays in the volume now known as the First Folio, preserving works that might otherwise have been lost. He is today the most performed and most studied dramatist in the world. [2]