William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, where he lived with his father, John Shakespeare, and his mother, Mary Arden. William was the third of eight children and the only surviving son.
We don't know much about his early years, but at 18, he married Anne Hathaway (a woman eight years his senior) and had three children- Eldest daughter, Susanna, and fraternal twins Hamnet and Judith.
Hamnet, unfortunately, passed when he was only eleven, and it's widely speculated that his relationship with Shakespeare inspired one of his most well-known plays- Hamlet.
Around 1585, Shakespeare appeared on the scene and began his long and successful career as an author, playwright, and actor. He was also the co-owner of a playing company known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and they quickly became the leading playing company in London.
They were so popular that in 1599, the company built their own theater on the south bank of the river Thames and named it The Globe.
Despite his fame as an actor, Shakespeare is touted as one of the best dramatists of all time for his plays and poetry. Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Coriolanus, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Othello, and King Lear are just a few of his works. Most scholars estimate that he wrote 38 plays and over 150 poems, some of which are classified as the finest poetry written in the English language.
Shakespeare died at the young age of 52 on April 23, 1616, at his home in Stratford-upon-Avon- a mere month after signing his will, a detailed document that began with a description of Shakespeare being in perfect health. He's buried in the Chancel of the Holy Trinity Church, and there's a curse written on his tomb that reads:
Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
To learn more about the Bard's fascinating career, click the link above or check out his Wikipedia page!
Sonnets in this episode are 14, 18, 19, 36, and 130.
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