William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He received some education at the local grammar school where he learned Latin and Greek. In 1582, he married Anne Hathaway and had three children. Around 1587, he left his family and moved to London to work as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and over 150 sonnets during his career. He died in 1616 in Stratford-upon-Avon and was buried there in Holy Trinity Church. Shakespeare is considered one of the greatest writers in the English language and introduced over 3,000 words to it through his works.

1. St Xavier’s College, Mahuadanr
Short Biography of Shakespeare.
William Shakespeare was an actor, playwright, poet and the theatre
entrepreneur in London during the late Elizabeth and early Jacobean Era. From the
register of the little Parish Church at Stratford-on-Avon we learn that Shakespeare
was baptized there on the 26th
of April 1564 as it was customary to baptize the
children on the third day after birth, so 23rd
of April is generally accepted as the
poet’s birthday. His father John Shakespeare was a farmer’s son and prospered as a
trader in corn, meat, leather and other Agricultural Products. His mother Mary
Arden was the daughter of a prosperous farmer descended from an old
Warwickshire family.
Of Shakespeare’s education we know little except that for a few years he
probably attended the endowed Grammar School at Stratford where he picked up
“the small Latin and less Greek” to which his learned friend Ben Jonson refers: his
real teachers were men and women and the natural influences which surrounded
him. Stratford is a charming little village in a beautiful Warwickshire. Every phase
of the natural beauty of the exquisite region is reflected in Shakespeare’s poetry.
Just as his characters reflect the nobility and the littleness, the gossip, vises
emotions, prejudices and traditions of the people around him.
So Shakespeare’s education at the nature came from keeping his heart as
well as his eyes wide open to the beautiful world. He notes and remembers every
significant thing in the changing panorama of earth and sky. No other writer has
ever approached him in the perfect natural setting of his characters.
In 1582, at the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway and had three children.
About the year 1587 Shakespeare left his family and went to London and joined

2. himself to Burgade’s company of players. Of his life in London from 1587 to 1611 the
period of his greatest literary activity we know nothing definitely.
Shakespeare holds by general acclamation the foremost place in the world of
literature. Shakespeare’s genius included all the world of nature and of men. In a
single word he is the universal poet. To study nature in his works is like exploring
a new and beautiful country; to study man in his works is like going into a great
city viewing the diverse crowd as one view a great masquerade in which past and
present mingles freely and familiarly as if the dead were all living again. And the
marvelous thing in the deception of all sorts and conditions of men is that
Shakespeare lifts the mask from every face, lets us see the man as he is in his own
soul and shows us in each one some germ of good, some “soul of goodness” even in
things considered evil.
Shakespeare strikes no uncertain note and raises no doubts to add to the
burden of your own. Good always overcomes evil in the long run; and love faith
work and duty are the four elements that make the world right in all ages. To
criticize or praise the genius that creates this men and women is to criticize or
praise humanity itself.
Shakespeare’s influence in Literature is equally difficult to speak. His
influence upon the language and thought is beyond calculation. Shakespeare and
the King James Bible are the two great conservators of the English speech. And one
who habitually reads them, finds himself possessed of a style and vocabulary that
are beyond criticism. As long as one speaks the English language, it is impossible
to escape his influence because his thought and expression have pervaded our life
and literature.

3. It is said that Shakespeare always had a sound mind and perfect health. However
He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, where he had
been baptized 52 years earlier.
Some Important Facts of His Life
1. In 1585, Shakespeare disappeared for almost seven years, and historians call this
period of life as “the lost years.”
2. When in 1952 he emerged as an actor and a playwright, he received the title of
“upstart crow” from Robert Greene.
3. Shakespeare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary to have introduced
almost 3,000 words in the English language.
4. He wrote 37 plays and more than 150 sonnets and other poems.