William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare ( 23 April 156423 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He wrote 40 known 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 approximately 1592 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, romantic and happy (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 in 1564. Though the exact date is unknown, historians accept 23 April 1564 as Shakespeare's birthday. He was probably the third of eight children. Shakespeare was probably educated at the King's New School in Stratford. Latin was popular 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 questioned 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. 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
References
More reading
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