Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised (baptism) 26 April 1564; died 23 April 1616)Ref_labelaanone was an English (English people) poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called Englands national poet and the "Bard of Avon".Ref_labelbbnone His surviving works, including some collaborations (Shakespeares collaborations), consist of 38 plays (Shakespeares plays),Ref_labelccnone 154 sonnets (Shakespeares Sonnets), two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway (Anne Hathaway (Shakespeare)), with whom he had three children: Susanna (Susanna Hall), and twins Hamnet (Hamnet Shakespeare) and Judith (Judith Quiney). Between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlains Men, later known as the Kings Men (Kings Men (playing company)). He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeares private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance (Portraits of Shakespeare), sexuality (sexuality of William Shakespeare), religious beliefs (Shakespeares religion), and whether the works attributed to him were written by others (Shakespeare authorship question).

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.Ref_labelddnone His early plays were mainly comedies (Shakespearean comedy) and histories (Shakespearean history), genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. He then wrote mainly tragedies (Shakespearean tragedy) until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies (Shakespeares late romances), also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights.

Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. In 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeares.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeares genius, and the Victorians (Victorian era) worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.