Shakespeare’s life and inspirations

• William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor.

• Shakespeare’s plays include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest.

• Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and married Anne Hathaway in 1582. They had three children.

• Shakespeare spent most of his professional life with an acting company in London, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. In 1599, the acting company built the Globe Theatre.

• Shakespeare’s plays are still performed all over the world and have inspired many films, ballets, musicals and operas.

Watch this video about Shakespeare’s life and inspirations

William Shakespeare used different spellings of his name. He signed himself Shakespe, Shakspe, Shakspere and Shakespear.

Very little is known about Shakespeare’s personal life, but what is known is mainly taken from legal documents and business paperwork. There are no diaries or letters that reveal his personal thoughts or opinions.

Shakespeare’s plays weren’t published in book form during his lifetime – it was only after he died that his friends got together and paid for his plays to be collected. This collection was called the First Folio.

What did Shakespeare look like?

No one can be sure exactly what Shakespeare looked like. The only proven portrait of Shakespeare was produced after his death.

There are several other portraits that claim to be of Shakespeare, but none have been proven.

In 1564, Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon to a wealthy family. The young Shakespeare probably attended the local grammar school. He would have learned to read and write in Latin and Ancient Greek as well as English.

The young Shakespeare probably experienced the theatre through the travelling acting companies that visited Stratford-upon-Avon.

At the age of 18, Shakespeare married a local farmer’s daughter, Anne Hathaway. They had three children: a daughter called Susanna in 1583 and twins, Hamnet and Judith, in 1585.

Historians of Shakespeare’s life describe 1585 - 1592 as the ‘Lost Years’ because they know very little about what he was doing during this period of time.

Shakespeare wrote different types of plays, for example:

• Comedies

• Tragedies

• Histories

There are also some plays that are called ‘problem plays’, as they are harder to fit into just one of those three categories.

Click through the slideshow to see examples of different types of Shakespeare plays

Poetry

As well as writing plays, Shakespeare was also a poet. He wrote three long narrative poems and 154 sonnets. A sonnet is a poem consisting of 14 lines that is typically about love. Shakespeare’s most famous sonnet is Sonnet 18, which begins:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

During Shakespeare’s time, it was common for writers to take stories that already existed and write their own version. The tragedy Hamlet is taken from old Scandinavian tale, but Shakespeare added some new characters and changed some of the plot.

The plot of Romeo and Juliet is taken from a popular Italian story that had been translated into French and then into English.

Although he often borrowed plot ideas, Shakespeare introduced details of his own and used language to breathe new life into the stories.

Shakespeare also took inspiration from real life when writing his plays. For example, his History plays were based on real kings of England – Elizabeth I’s and James I’s ancestors. These plays did not always stick to historical fact. Shakespeare often changed details to make the story more dramatic or to please the current queen or king.

Following his retirement, which is believed to be after 1611, Shakespeare returned to Stratford-upon-Avon.

Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of 52. He was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.

In his lifetime, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and over 150 poems. His work is studied in schools and universities across the world.

Shakespeare died on 23 April, which is also St George’s Day. Some historians believe that this may also have been his birthday. However, it is impossible to know for sure as the earliest record there is of him is his christening on 26 April 1564.