The Life of SHAKESPEARE, William, (1564–1616), the supreme English poet, actor, and playwright, universally recognized as the greatest of all dramatists.

A complete, authoritative account of Shakespeare’s life is lacking; much supposition surrounds relatively few facts.

His day of birth is traditionally held to be April 23; it is known he was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. The third of eight children, he was the eldest son of John Shakespeare (1551–1601), a locally prominent merchant, and Mary Arden (1556–1608), daughter of a Roman Catholic member of the landed gentry. He was probably educated at the local grammar school.

As the eldest son, Shakespeare ordinarily would have been working in his father’s shop so that he could learn and eventually take over the business, but according to one account he worked at a butcher’s because of difficulties in his father’s financial situation. According to another account, he became a schoolmaster. That Shakespeare was allowed considerable leisure time in his youth is suggested by the fact that his plays show more knowledge of hunting and hawking than do those of other contemporary dramatists. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway (1557?–1623), the daughter of a farmer. He is supposed to have left Stratford after he was caught poaching in the deer park of Sir Thomas Lucy (1532–1600), a local justice of the peace.

Shakespeare arrived in London about 1588 and by 1592 had attained success as an actor and a playwright. The publication of Shakespeare’s two fashionably erotic narrative poems Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594) and of his Sonnets (published in 1609) established his reputation as a poet in the Renaissance manner. The Sonnets describe the devotion of a character, often identified as the poet himself, to a young man whose beauty and virtue he praises and to a mysterious and faithless dark lady who attracts the poet.

Shakespeare’s modern reputation is based mainly, however, on the 38 plays that he apparently wrote, modified, or collaborated on. Although generally popular in his day, these plays were frequently little esteemed by his educated contemporaries, who considered English plays of their own day to be only vulgar entertainment.

Shakespeare’s acting company was the Chamberlain’s Men, later called the King’s Men. His two theaters were the Globe (see below) and the Blackfriars. His plays were given special presentation at the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I more frequently than those of any other contemporary dramatists.

After about 1608, Shakespeare’s dramatic production lessened and it seems that he spent more time in Stratford. There he had established his family in an imposing house, called New Place, and had become a leading local citizen. He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried in the Stratford church.

Material from:

Funk and Wagnalls online

Encyclopaedia Britannica online

Compiled by: Greger Johansson