William Shakespeare

1564–1616 · English (Stratford-upon-Avon / London) · Elizabethan / Jacobean Era

Known for: The greatest writer in the English language—37 plays, 154 sonnets, inventor of 1,700+ words

William Shakespeare was a glover's son from the provinces who became the most successful playwright of the Elizabethan-Jacobean era and, eventually, universally acknowledged as the greatest writer who ever lived. He was an actor, shareholder in the Globe Theatre, and shrewd businessman who retired wealthy to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Remarkably little is known about his private life—he married Anne Hathaway at 18 and had three children. His plays demonstrate an almost supernatural ability to inhabit every human perspective—king and fool, lover and murderer, man and woman. He invented over 1,700 English words and phrases still in daily use. His works are performed more than any other author's in history.

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