William Shakespeare
Date of birth:
26 April 1564
29 February 1664
2 March 2010
Date of death:
23 April 1616
24 April 1616
25 April 1616
Shakespeare
was an English
, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language
and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's
national poet
and the "
". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of
about
38
plays,
154
sonnets
,
2
long
narrative poems
,
and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every
major living language and are performed more often than those of
any
other playwright.
Stratford-upon-AvonAnne HathawayLord Chamberlain's MenStratford
Shakespeare was born and raised in
. At the age of 18, he married
, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the
, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to
around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality,
religious beliefs , and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between
1589
and
1313
. His
early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to
the
peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century.
He
then wrote mainly tragedies until about
1808
, including Hamlet, King
Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the
English
language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as
romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
