About+William+Shakespeare

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford- upon- Avon. He was born in 1564 to Mary Arden, the daughter of a landowning farmer and John Shakespeare, a leather merchant and leather glover. He married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18. They had three children together, Susanna, and the twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died when he was a young boy due to the awful plague that swept through Europe, and was believed to be between 8 and 10 years old. Many say that this is where he got his inspiration to write one of his plays //Hamlet//. William Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore none of he original manuscripts have survived.

In between the late 1580's and early 1590's, Shakespeare began a successful career in London. He had to leave his wife and children at home for many years while he was in London because of his work. Shakespeare started his career as an actor and later became a play writer. He was also part owner of a acting company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, whose name was later known as the King's Men. The change in name occured because King John came into power and they decided to give him the honor of naming their company after him.

Shakespeare wrote most of his well-known work between 1590 and 1613. His earlier plays were mainly comdedies and histories. By the end of the sixteenth century and until 1608, he wrote mainly tragedies. His finest work, which was considered some of the finest works in the English language were the plays, Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear. His latest plays were tragicoedies, also known as romances. In 1623, Shakespear's First Folio was published, which is a collection of his plays. It included all the plays but two, //The Two Noble Kinsmen and Pericles, Prince of Tyre.//

Shakespeare is believed to have retired back to Stratford around 1613. He died three years later, in 1616. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playright in his day, but it was not until the 19th century that he became very well- known and appraised as one of the finest writers of the English language.

 Fast Facts: 1.) Mothers name: Mary 2.) Fathers name: John 3.) Brothers: William, Gilbert, Richard, Edmund 4.) Sisters:Joan, Margaret, Anne 5.) Children: Susannah, Hamnet, and Judith 6.) Total number of plays: 37 7.) Schooling: Unknown 8.) Son of an Alderman 9.) No one knows the actual Birthday of Shakespeare 10.) Shakespeare never published any of his plays ==Interesting Facts: 1) His wife was 8 years older than him and 3 months pregnant when the got married! ==

4) His family could not read or write
= =  Fun Fact: The earring was not in the original portrait of Shakespeare. It was only added later by an artist. The Globe Theatre A Video on the biography of William Shakespeare media type="youtube" key="tu-WFBOlrAI" height="344" width="425"

List of Shakespeare's Works __Plays__ Comedies //-All's Well That Ends Well -As You Like It -The Comedy of Errors -Love's Labour's Lost -Measure for Measure -The Merchant of Venice -The Merry Wives of Windsor -A Midsummer Night's Dream -Much Ado About Nothing -Pericles, Prince of Tyre -The Taming of the Shrew -The Tempest -Twelfth Night, or What You Will -The Two Gentlemen of Verona -The Two Noble Kinsmen -The Winter's Tale//

Histories //-King John -Richard II -Henry IV, part 1 -Henry IV, part 2 -Henry V -Henry VI, part 1 -Henry VI, part 2 -Henry VI, part 3 -Richard III -Henry VIII//

Tragedies //-Romeo and Juliet -Coriolanus -Titus Andronicus -Timon of Athens -Julius Caesar -Macbeth -Hamlet -Troilus and Cressida -King Lear -Othello -Antony and Cleopatra -Cymbeline//

__Poems__ //-Shakespeare's Sonnets -Venus and Adonis -The Rape of Lucrece -The Passionate Pilgrim -The Phoenix and the Turtle -A Lover's Complaint//

__Lost Plays__ //-Love's Labour's Won -Cardenio//

__Apocrypha__ //-Arden of Faversham -The Birth of Merlin -Locrine -The London Prodigal -The Puritan -The Second Maiden's Tragedy -Sir John Oldcastle -Thomas Lord Cromwell -A Yorkshire Tragedy -Edward III -Sir Thomas More//

//__For More Information on William Shakespeare: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poivrUnvMzQ&feature=related __//