William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon who wrote 154 sonnets, two long narratives, and about three dozen plays. He died in 1616. Shakespeare's famous poem "All the world's a stage" describes the seven stages of a man's life: infant, schoolboy, lover, soldier, justice, pantaloon, and senility. It likens life to being a performance where people have entrances and exits during different stages.