William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, Born on 23 april 1564 in Stratford upon Avon, was an English poet and writer. Shakespeare is the greatest writer that England has ever had. Not only because of his literary works, but also by his influence on the English language. Shakespeare wrote 38 tragedies, historic plays and comedies. He also wrote 154 sonnets and a couple longer poems.

When he was six Shakespeare went to school. He was very lucky, because Stratford had one of the best grammar schools in England. When he left school, his father just lost his function as town mayor and was a master craftsman again. Shakespeare helped his father making fancy gloves of leather and silk, because there was nothing else for him to do in Stratford and there was no money to spare to send William to school again.
On 23 november 1582, William married Anne Hathaway. They had three kids.

In 1587 William decided to escape of the countrylife and went to London. Not long after his arrival William joined one of the best Elizabethian acting companies, Lord Strange’s Men. Soon he started rewriting plays by other people. The first play we know that is originally written by Shakespeare is ‘Henry VI’. In 1592 it was produced by the Lord Stange’s Men and it was a great succes. In 1594 Lord Strange died and the acting company searched for a new patron: Lord Chamberlain. They also found a theatre in Shoreditch. When they opened in 1594 Shakespeare was very well known for his writing. In 1599 they had to move the theatre. The finest plays of Shakespeare were put on in this theatre. William wrote in that period several plays, including the one about the famous lovers ‘Romeo & Juliet’. He died peacefully on 23 april 1616.