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Overview of William Shakespeare's Life

William Shakespeare was an influential English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564, known for his extensive body of work during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. He married Anne Hathaway and had three children, with his legacy preserved through the First Folio, which includes 36 of his plays. Shakespeare's writings remain significant in literature and have inspired numerous adaptations across various genres.

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25 views2 pages

Overview of William Shakespeare's Life

William Shakespeare was an influential English poet, playwright, and actor born in 1564, known for his extensive body of work during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. He married Anne Hathaway and had three children, with his legacy preserved through the First Folio, which includes 36 of his plays. Shakespeare's writings remain significant in literature and have inspired numerous adaptations across various genres.

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professordenarci
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Who was William Shakespeare?

William Shakespeare was a renowned English poet,


playwright, and actor born in 1564 in
Stratford-upon-Avon. His birthday is most commonly
celebrated on 23 April (see When was Shakespeare born),
which is also believed to be the date he died in 1616.
Shakespeare was a prolific writer during the
Elizabethan and Jacobean ages of British theatre
(sometimes called the English Renaissance or the Early
Modern Period). Shakespeare’s plays are perhaps his
most enduring legacy, but they are not all he wrote.
Shakespeare’s poems also remain popular to this day.

Shakespeare's Family Life


William Shakespeare would have lived with his
family in their house on Henley Street until he turned eighteen. When he was eighteen,
Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twenty-six. It was a rushed marriage
because Anne was already pregnant at the time of the ceremony. Together they had
three children. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born six months after the wedding
and was later followed by twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died when he was just 11
years old.

Shakespeare's Works
Altogether Shakespeare's works include 38 plays, 2
narrative poems, 154 sonnets, and a variety of other
poems. No original manuscripts of Shakespeare's
plays are known to exist today. It is actually thanks to
a group of actors from Shakespeare's company that
we have about half of the plays at all. They collected
them for publication after Shakespeare died,
preserving the plays. These writings were brought
together in what is known as the First Folio ('Folio'
refers to the size of the paper used). It contained 36
of his plays, but none of his poetry.
Shakespeare’s legacy is as rich and diverse as his
work; his plays have spawned countless adaptations
across multiple genres and cultures. His plays have
had an enduring presence on stage and film. His
writings have been compiled in various iterations of
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, which
include all of his plays, sonnets, and other poems.
William Shakespeare continues to be one of the most important literary figures of the
English language.

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