William Shakespeare was an English dramatist and poet, his work comprises 37 plays, 154 beatiful sonnets and 2 narrative poems. He is considered to be the greatest of all dramatists all over the world

٭ He was born on 23. 4. 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. He was baptized in the Holy Trinity Church on 26. 4. 1564.
† He died on 23. 4. 1616 on the same place. He is buried in the Holy Trinity Church,
Stratford-upon-Avon, where a memorial records his death.

His mother Mary was the daughter of Robert Arden of Wilmcote, near Stratford. His Father John was a glover and leather merchant and he dealed with wool. He was well-respected in his native town. William was their youngest son (he had one sister and one brother) Shakespeare probably attended Strarford´s excellent free Grammar scholl, although no record of the fact exists. He married Anne Hathaway of the neighboring village of Shottery, when the church authorities gave permission for him to marry her on 28. 11. 1582. He was 18 years old and she was 26 and probably she was pregnant. On 26. 5. 1583 their daughter Susanna was baptized in Holy Trinity Church. Twins named Hamnet and Judith were baptized on 2. 2. 1585. Later he left Stratford and came to London.

Shakespeare was an actor as well as a writer and he was associated with a group of other actors that included the day´s leading comedian Will Kempe and a leading tragedian Richard Burbage. They were known, after their nominal patron, as the Chamberlain´s Men and after 1603 as the King´s Men. By the year 1592 Shakespeare was acting exclusively for this company. Shakespeare was part of a consorcium that in 1599 built and owned its home theater – the Globe Theatre. First he helped re-write older plays but later he started to write his own plays and he was very succesful. He wrote his plays exclusively for this company at the rate of about two per year. In 1611 Shakespeare went back to Stratford buying a large house where he lived with his daughter and his son-in-law until his death in 1616.

In the years 1593 – 1594 Shakespeare published two narrative poems – “Venus and Adonis” and “The Rape of Lucrece”. And there was and unauthorized publication the “Sonnets of Shakespeare” in the year 1609.

Shakespeare wrote his plays for performance, not publication and apparently took no part in their printing. Nineteen plays appeared in individual quarto volumes before appearing in the Firs Folio.