Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

Nationality: British; English

Birth Date: April 23, 1564

Death Date: April 23, 1616

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His surviving work s consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narravative poems and several other poems.

Brothers and Sisters.

William was the third child of John and Mary Shakespeare. The first two were daughters and William was himself followed by Gilbert who died in 1612 and Richard who died in 1613. Edmund (1580-1607), sixth in the line was baptized on May the third, 1580 and William's oldest living sister was Joan who outlived her famous playwright brother. Of William’s seven siblings, only Judith and four of his brothers survived to adulthood.

William's Father.

From baptism records, we know William's father was a John Shakespeare, said to be a town official of Stratford and a local businessman who dabbled in tanning, leatherwork and whittawering which is working with white leather to make items like purses and gloves. John also dealt in grain and sometimes was described as a glover by trade.

John was also a prominent man in Stratford. By 1560, he was one of fourteen burgesses which formed the town council. Interestingly, William himself is often described as a keen businessman so we can assume he got his business acumen from his father. In the Bard's case, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree at all...

William's mother: Mary Arden.

William's mother was Mary Arden who married John Shakespeare in 1557. The youngest daughter in her family, she inherited much of her father’s landowning and farming estate when he died.

At the age of 18, William married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children, Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died 3 years later.

The Bard's will and death.

Records reveal that the great Bard revised his will on March the 25th, 1616. Less than a month later, he died on April the 23rd, 1616. Literature's famous Bard is buried at the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. He infamously left his second-best bed to his wife Anne Hathaway and little else, giving most of his estate to his eldest daughter Susanna who has married a prominent and distinguished physician named John Hall in June 1607. This was not as callous as it seems; the Bard's best bed was for guests; his second-best bed was his marriage bed... His will also named actors Richard Burbage, Henry Condell and John Hemminges, providing proof to academics today that William was involved in theatre. The Bard's direct line of descendants ended some 54 years later until Susanna’s daughter Elizabeth died in 1670.

The Bard's last words.

Written upon William Shakespeare’s tombstone is an appeal that he be left to rest in peace with a curse on those who would move his bones...

Good friend, for Jesus´ sake forbeare

To digg the dust enclosed here!

Blest be ye man that spares thes stones

And curst be he that moues my bones.

Translated this reads as:

Good friend, for Jesus’ sake, forbear

To dig the dust enclosed here;

Blest be the man that spares these stones

And curst he that moves my bones.

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some of William Shakespeare's plays and poems :

some of William Shakespeare's famous quotes :

in Romeo and Juliet

"O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?". - (Act II, Scene II).

"It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear" . - (Act I, Scene V).

"Tempt not a desperate man". - (Act V, Scene III).

in Julius Ceasar

"Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war". - (Act III, Scene I).

"This was the noblest Roman of them all". - (Act V, Scene V).

"As he was valiant, I honor him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew him" . - (Act III, Scene II)

in Macbeth

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble." - (Act IV, Scene I).

"If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me". - (Act I, Scene III).

"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself, and falls on the other." - (Act I, Scene VII).

in The Winter's Tale

"What 's gone and what 's past help should be past grief" . - (Act III, Scene II).

"You pay a great deal too dear for what's given freely". - (Act I, Scene I).

in The Twelfth Night

"Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them". - (Act II, Scene V).

"Love sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better" . - (Act III, Scene I).

in Othello

"I will wear my heart upon my sleeve for daws to peck at". - (Act I, Scene I).

"To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on". - (Act I, Scene III).

in Much Ado About Nothing

"Everyone can master a grief but he that has it". - (Act III, Scene II).

in Troilus and Cressida

"The common curse of mankind, - folly and ignorance". - (Act II, Scene III).

in Hamlet

"Though this be madness, yet there is method in 't.". - (Act II, Scene II).

"That it should come to this!". - (Act I, Scene II).

in King Richard III

"A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!". - (Act V, Scene IV).

"Conscience is but a word that cowards use, devised at first to keep the strong in awe". - (Act V, Scene III).

"Brevity is the soul of wit". - (Act II, Scene II).

in The Merchants of Venice

"If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?". - (Act III, Scene I).

"The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose". - (Act I, Scene III).

"I like not fair terms and a villain's mind". - (Act I, Scene III).

in King Lear

"I am a man more sinned against than sinning". - (Act III, Scene II).

"My love's more richer than my tongue". - (Act I, Scene I).

"Nothing will come of nothing." - (Act I, Scene I).

in Measure for Measure

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt". - (Act I, Scene IV).

"Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall". - (Act II, Scene I).

"The miserable have no other medicine but only hope". - (Act III, Scene I).