William Shakespeare

Biography

William Shakespeare was born in Warwickshire, England, on April 23rd, 1564. He came from a family, with a good place on the social ladder. He went to the secondary school Edward VI, where he learned Latin, rhetoric, logic and history. Yet, all this is only pure speculation, because there isn't any evidence of it. In 1582, he marries Anne Hathaway, older than him by 8 years, and already pregnant on the wedding day. The following years were called 'the lost years', because we can't find any trace of Shakespeare in the registers, except the birth of his children, and his only son who died very young. It's in 1592 that we find again Shakespeare on the Londonian stage, as an actor and playwright. Then he became a member of the company The Lord Chamberlain's Men, which would be later adopted by Jacques 1st, and would change name and become 'King's Men'. In-between, Shakespeare would play in Ben Jonson's plays, for example Every Man in his humor and Sejanus. He retired in 1611. He died in 1616, and was buried in Stratford-upon-Avon, in the choir of the church.

He composed himself his epitaph :

" Good frend for Iesvs sake forbeare, To digg the dvst encloased heare. Blest be ye man yt spares thes stones, And crvst be he yt moves my bones."

There is a rumour accordint to which some unpublished works would be buried with him, but no one has ever yet dared profane his tomb to verify. Every year, at the supposed date of his birth, a goose feather is placed in the right hand of the statue which represents him.

Bibliography

Tragedies : Romeo and Juliet; Macbeth; King Lear; Hamlet, Prince of Denmark; Othello, the Moor of Venice; Titus Andronicus; Julius Caesar; Antony and Cleopatra; Cariolanus; Troilus and Cressida; Timon of Athens

Comedies : All's well that ends well; As you like it; A Midsummer night's dream; Much Ado about nothing; Measure for measure; The taming of the shrew; Twelfth Night; The Merchant of Venice; The Merry Wives of Windsor; Love's Labour's Lost; The two gentlement of Verona; The Comedy of Errors

Historical plays : Richard III; Richard II; Henry VI; Henry V; Henry IV; Henry VIII; King John; Edward III; Sir Thomas More

Romances : Pericles, Prince of Tyr; Cymbeline; The Winter's Tale; The Tempest; The two noble kinsmen

Poetry : The Sonnets; The long poems

For more information about Shakespeare and his work : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare