William Shakespeare1564–1616

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor from Stratford-upon-Avon, the author of about 39 plays and 154 sonnets. Four centuries after his death he is still the most performed playwright in the world and the most quoted writer in the English language.

Read his life Explore the plays See the timeline

The Chandos portrait: a man with a high forehead, dark hair, a short beard and a gold earring, wearing a black doublet with a white collar — The Chandos portrait, c. 1600–1610, attributed to John Taylor. National Portrait Gallery, London. Public domain.

At a glance

Baptised: 26 April 1564, Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Died: 23 April 1616, Stratford-upon-Avon, aged 52
Buried: Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Parents: John Shakespeare, glover, and Mary Arden
Married: Anne Hathaway, in November 1582
Children: Susanna (1583), and twins Hamnet and Judith (1585)
Works: About 39 plays, 154 sonnets and several longer poems
Company: The Lord Chamberlain's Men, renamed the King's Men in 1603
Theatres: The Theatre, the Globe and the Blackfriars
Collected works: The First Folio, published in 1623

The contents of this guide

Arranged, like the First Folio's own catalogue, so you can go straight to what you need.

BiographyFrom a glover's son in Stratford to the most celebrated writer in English.
The playsAll 39 plays, with summaries, characters, themes and famous lines.
Poems and sonnetsThe 154 sonnets, Venus and Adonis, and The Rape of Lucrece.
TimelineYear by year, from his baptism in 1564 to the First Folio in 1623.
FamilyParents, wife, children and the last of his descendants.
The Globe and the playhousesWhere the plays were first performed, and how.
Stratford-upon-AvonThe town where he was born, married, retired and is buried.
LanguageBlank verse, everyday phrases and how he shaped English.
Famous quotesThe best-known lines, with who says them and why.
LegacyThe First Folio, Bardolatry and four centuries of performance.
The authorship questionThe theories, and what the evidence shows.
Questions and answersQuick, sourced answers to the questions people ask most.

His story in brief

Shakespeare grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, the son of a glover who rose to become the town's bailiff. At 18 he married Anne Hathaway, and by 21 he was the father of three children. By 1592 he was working in London as an actor and playwright, successful enough to be sneered at by a rival as an 'upstart Crow'.

From 1594 he wrote for, acted with and part-owned the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the leading company of the age. In 1599 they built the Globe on the south bank of the Thames, and over the next decade he wrote Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. After 1603 the company became the King's Men, under the patronage of James I.

He spent his last years in Stratford, in the grand house he had bought there, and died in 1616. Seven years later two fellow actors gathered his plays into the First Folio, without which half of them might have been lost. Read the full biography.

Lines everyone knows

To be, or not to be: that is the question.
Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1

All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players.
As You Like It, Act 2 Scene 7

We are such stuff As dreams are made on.
The Tempest, Act 4 Scene 1

Browse more than 50 famous quotes

Detail of Hollar's etched panorama of Bankside, showing round playhouses among the houses on the south bank of the Thames — Bankside in the 1640s, with the rebuilt Globe among the playhouses on the south bank. Wenceslaus Hollar, 1647. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The playhouse

Shakespeare wrote for a theatre of bare boards, daylight and imagination. The Globe held up to around 3,000 people, with the poorest standing in the open yard for a penny. There was no scenery to speak of; the words did the work. Discover how the Elizabethan playhouses worked.

Common questions

When was Shakespeare born?

His exact birth date is unknown. He was baptised on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, and his birthday is traditionally celebrated on 23 April.

Where is Shakespeare buried?

He is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. His gravestone carries a verse curse on anyone who moves his bones, and a funerary monument with his bust stands on the wall nearby.

How many plays did Shakespeare write?

About 39, including several written with other dramatists. The First Folio of 1623 contains 36; Pericles, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Edward III are now also accepted as partly his.

Why is Shakespeare called the Bard?

A bard was originally a Celtic poet. Shakespeare became known as 'the Bard of Avon', later simply 'the Bard', from the 18th century onwards. Ben Jonson called him the 'Sweet Swan of Avon' in the First Folio.

Who was Shakespeare's wife?

Anne Hathaway (c. 1556–1623), from Shottery near Stratford. They married in 1582, when he was 18 and she was about 26. She outlived him by seven years.

See all questions and answers