Shakespeare was a part of this company for most of his career, and it was affiliated with the royal court of James I. The Globe Theatre was where Shakespeare did much of his acting and production, with the King’s Men, perhaps the most well-regarded acting troupe of his generation (“William Shakespeare” Wikipedia). By the year 1599, the Globe Theatre was open. In these plays, he was able to connect with the audience through intense emotions, witty wordplay and themes that connected deeply to the human experience, rather than to the supernatural. Within those plays there was four main genres: romance ( Romeo and Juliet), comedies ( As You Like It), tragedies ( Hamlet), and histories ( King John). By the year 1613, he had written 37 in total. These are considered Shakespeare’s “lost years.” Around the year of 1590, Shakespeare started composing and producing plays, including Henry VI Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Richard III, The Comedy of Errors, etc. They would go on to have twins as well, one of whom-their only boy, Hamnet–died at the age of 11 around the time Shakespeare composed Hamlet, which is one of the only clues we have to the intersection of art and biography in his works.įrom 1585 to 1592 there are no records found of Shakespeare. He married his wife, Anne Hathaway, when he was 18 and she 26 at the time, she was already pregnant with their first child, Susanna. From there, speculators say that Shakespeare spent his time working in a butcher shop, as well as helping his dad run his business (Mibillard).

Though it cannot be verified, experts believe he went to the New Grammar School of Stratford-upon-Avon from the age of 6 to around 13, when his family faced financial hardship and he was likely compelled to leave (Mibillard). He was born to John and Mary Shakespeare, who are both assumed to be illiterate. Shakespeare, arguably the most world-renowned writer in the English language, is thought to have been born on Apjust three days before his official baptism, in Stratford-upon-Avon. Wikimedia Commons.īy Mikayla Langham, Nicole Almendarez and Kaeli Walls “William Shakespeare” by Batyr Ashirbayev, 2019.

Sonnets by william shakespeare