ABBIEGAILE C.

PAGATPTAN
GRADE 9-WISDOM

A Short Biography of William Shakespeare

Poet, Playwright (c. 15641616)

William Shakespeare was baptized on 26 April 1564. We don't know the exact
date of his birth but in the 16th century it was normal for babies to baptized within a
few days of their birth (because so many died). Shakespeare was born the same
year as Christopher Marlowe.
William Shakespeare's father John was a glover (maker of gloves) and he
seems to have been a leading citizen of Stratford Upon Avon.
We don't know if John Shakespeare was a native of Stratford but he was living
in the town by 1552 because in that year he was fined for leaving a dunghill in
Henley Street. At that time Stratford was a small town with a population of between
1,500 and 2,000.
In 1557 John Shakespeare married a woman from nearby Wilmcote called
Mary Arden. The Shakespeares had 8 children. In 1558 the Shakespeare's had a
daughter called Joan (she died in 1563). However in 1563 they had another

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ABBIEGAILE C. PAGATPTAN
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daughter called Margaret but she too died in childhood. After William in 1563 they
had a son called Gilbert in 1566. (He died in 1612). They also had another daughter

called Joan (like her dead sister) in 1569 and a daughter called Anne in 1571. In
1574 they had a son called Richard (he died in 1613). In 1580 they had a son called
Edmund (he died in 1607).
When he was 18 William Shakespeare married a woman named Anne
Hathaway. They married in November 1582 and their daughter Susanna was
baptized in May 1583.
On 2 February 1585 the Shakespeare's next children, a twin boy and girl,
Hamnet and Judith were baptized. However Hamnet died when he was 11.
William Shakespeare probably went to Stratford Grammar School. However
we do not know what he did for a living when he was a young man but in about
1587 he went to London. He became an actor and a playwright.
By 1592 William Shakespeare was making a name for himself. In that year a
man named Robert Greene wrote about 'an upstart crow' who 'is in his own conceit
the only Shake-scene in a country. He didn't actually name William Shakespeare but
it is clear who he meant.
The theatres in London were closed from 1592 to 1594 because of plague but
Shakespeare wrote two poems during that time, Venus and Adonis 1593
and Lucerce in 1594.
William Shakespeare prospered and in 1597 he bought a house and gardens
in Stratford for 60.
William Shakespeare made his will on 25 March 1616 shortly before he death.
He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in the parish church. Anne Shakespeare
died in 1623. Susanna died in 1649 and Judith, the surviving twin died in 1662.
In the 19th century as Stratford upon Avon became famous as the birthplace
of William Shakespeare. The house where he was born was purchased in 1847 and
turned into a monument. Anne Hathaway's cottage was purchased in 1892. The
Royal Shakespeare Theatre was built in 1932 and the Shakespeare Centre opened in
1964.

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ABBIEGAILE C. PAGATPTAN
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Today William Shakespeare is remembered as one of the greatest English
playwrights.

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