William Shakespeare was an English playwright born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon who wrote 38 plays and 154 poems in iambic pentameter and died on his birthday in 1616; his plays were performed in London at The Globe theatre during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I and included famous works like "Romeo and Juliet", "The Tempest", and "Twelfth Night" as well as his last play "The Two Noble Kinsmen".