William Shakespeare (bapt. 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He wrote 39 plays (with about half of them considered comedies) and two long poems in his lifetime. He lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, England. His plays are still performed today. He is often quoted in modern writing.

Shakespeare wrote his works between about 1590 and 1613. His plays are among the best known in English literature and are studied in schools around the world. Along with writing, Shakespeare also acted in The Chamberlain's Men acting company, starting in 1594.

Shakespeare wrote plays of different kinds, or genres. There are histories, tragedies and comedies. Shakespeare was the first person ever to write a tragicomedy. (A tragicomedy is a play that mixes comedy and tragedy, with a happy ending.)

Shakespeare's plays are written in poetic language. Many of the plays are set in strange, distant places and times. The stories are often exciting, very funny (in the comedies), or very sad (in the tragedies). These stories make people want to know what will happen to the characters. The plays talk about things that are still important today, like love, sadness, hope, pride, hatred, jealousy, and foolishness.

Shakespeare added new words and phrases to the English language. He created over 1,700 English words. He also made some words more popular.

Life 
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. His date of birth is usually given as 23 April, though the exact date is unknown.  He was the third of eight children. Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford.  Latin was popular in in grammar schools during the Elizabethan era, so Shakespeare learned Latin very intensively.  

When Shakespeare was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a 26-year-old woman.  Their wedding was rushed because Anne was already pregnant. They had three children: Susanna (who married John Hall); Hamnet (who died at the age of 11 from unknown causes); and Judith (who married Thomas Quiney). By 1592, Shakespeare had become an actor and was becoming well known as a writer of plays. 

At the time of his death in 1616, only some of Shakespeare’s plays had been published in single editions. His plays were collected and published in 1623, seven years after he died. There is proof that people in Shakespeare's time thought highly of him. After his death, even his rival Ben Jonson said:

"Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show,
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!"

Shakespeare was involved in the building of the Globe Theatre in 1599. (It burned down a few years later.) His plays are still performed at a new Globe Theatre, built in 1997 near the original.

Marriage and sexuality 
Although Shakespeare was married to a woman and fathered three children, people have debated his sexuality. Some people, such as Peter Holland of the Shakespeare Institute at Birmingham University, have pointed out that Shakespeare directed some of his sonnets towards young men. They say this is evidence that he may have been bisexual.

Who wrote "Shakespeare"? 

About 150 years after his death, some writers suggested that Shakespeare did not actually write all of the works that are called his. They had various reasons for saying this. For example, the person who wrote "Shakespeare’s works" knew a lot about other countries (especially Italy and France), but William Shakespeare never left England. Several other writers of "Shakespeare" have been suggested, such as Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford have all been suggested as possible authors of “Shakespeare’s works.” However, most scholars believe that William Shakespeare did write the works that bear his name.

List of Shakespeare's plays

Shakespeare's tragedies  
 Romeo and Juliet
 Macbeth
 King Lear
 Hamlet
 Othello
 Titus Andronicus
 Julius Caesar 
 Antony and Cleopatra
 Coriolanus
 Troilus and Cressida
 Timon of Athens

Shakespeare's comedies 
 The Comedy of Errors
 All's Well That Ends Well
 As You Like It
 A Midsummer Night's Dream
 Much Ado About Nothing
 Measure for Measure
 The Tempest
 Taming of the Shrew
 Twelfth Night or What You Will
 The Merchant of Venice
 The Merry Wives of Windsor
 Love's Labour's Lost
 The Two Gentlemen of Verona
 Pericles Prince of Tyre
 Cymbeline
 The Winter's Tale

Shakespeare's histories 
 King John (play)
 Richard II
 Richard III
 Henry IV, part 1
 Henry IV, part 2
 Henry V
 Henry VI, part 1
 Henry VI, part 2
 Henry VI, part 3
 Henry VIII

Other plays 
 Love's Labour's Won	
 Cardenio

Shakespeare's tragicomedies
 Twelfth Night
 The Merchant of Venice
 As You Like It
 A Midsummer Night's Dream

Notes

References

Other websites 

 Shakespeare  Open Literature
 Open Source Shakespeare
 Modern English Shakespeare Resources: Facts, Plays, Sonnets
 Shakespeare - SparkNotes

1564 births
1616 deaths
English playwrights
English poets
Literature since 1500
 
Writers from Warwickshire