1. William Shakespeare 1564-1616

2. DOB unknown (April 1564) Born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden Stratford-upon-Avon Biographers speculate that he attended King’s New School--Latin grammar and literature

3. Married Anne Hathaway at age 18 (1582) They had three children: Susanna (1583), Hamnet and Judith (1585) Hamnet passed away at age 11 The Lost Years (1578- 1582, 1585-1592)

4. Became a published poet in 1593 Lord Chamberlain’s Men (1594) King’s Men (1603, accession of King James I) Shakespeare: not only poet and playwright, but actor too!

5. “Part of the richness of Shakespeare’s work is the influence felt there of the various worlds in which he lived: the world of Metropolitan London, the world of small-town and rural England, the world of the theater, and the worlds of craftsmen and shepherds,” (Mowat and Werstine, xxxiv). Changes in religion, science, and philosophy during Shakespeare’s time influenced his writing

6. “We have the notion of the Elizabethan age as that of “Jollye Olde Englande”—a decades-long Renaissance faire of jesters and cup-and-ball games and ale and wenches and merry songs and so on. Not so. It was an age of excitement—but it was an age of terror as well. The ground had shifted beneath everyone’s feet: God wasn’t what we thought He was. The monarch wasn’t what we thought s/he was. We weren’t who we thought we were. And the future was a gathering of menacing shadows. Not exactly a recipe for good times. Which perhaps explains the sudden popularity of the theater. It was a place where one could retreat for distraction, entertainment, fun, and—in some cases—hearing great writers present ways of thinking about the world that didn’t make it seem like such a scary, awful place. Or maybe they’d tell you that you were right to be afraid…”

7. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 Buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon GOOD FREND FOR JESUS SAKE FORBEARE, TO DIGG THE DUST ENCLOASED HEARE: BLESTE BE Ye [the] MAN Yt [that] SPARES THES STONES,AND CURST BE HE Yt [that] MOVES MY BONES

11. The Man, The Myth, The Legend: William Shakespeare “This legendary Shakespeare is a rambunctious, undisciplined man, as attractively ‘wild’ as his plays were seen by earlier generations to be. Unfortunately, there is no trace of evidence to support these wonderful stories,” (Mowat and Werstine xxxv). Wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and a few longer narratives Shakespeare is regarded as the best writer of the English language, as he was able to “capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict”