William
Shakespeare (26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616)[nb 1] was an English
poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English
language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.[1] He is often called England's
national poet and the "Bard of Avon".[2][nb 2] His surviving works,
including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays,[nb 3] 154 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.[3]
Shakespeare
was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married
Anne Hathaway, with whom he had 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 a playing company called the Lord
Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to
Stratford around 1613 at age 49, where he died three years later. Few records
of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable
speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious
beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.[4]
Shakespeare
produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.[5][nb 4] His early plays
were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of
sophistication and artistry by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote
mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and
Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language. In his
last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, 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 Shakespeare's.
Shakespeare
was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not
rise to its present heights until the 19th century. The Romantics, in
particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians worshipped
Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called
"bardolatry".[6] In the 20th 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.
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