William Shakespeare (/ˈʃeɪkspɪər/;^[1] 26 April 1564 (baptised) – 23 April 1616)^{[nb 1]} was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.^[2] He is often called England'snational poet, and the "Bard of Avon".^{[3][nb 2]}His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,^{[nb 3]} 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.^[4]

William Shakespeare
The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Born	Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire,England
Baptised	26 April 1564
Died	23 April 1616 (aged 52) Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England
Resting place	Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon
Occupation	Playwright, poet, actor
Era	Elizabethan era
Movement	English Renaissance
Spouse(s)	Anne Hathaway (m. 1582–1616)
Children	Susanna Hall Hamnet Shakespeare Judith Quiney
Signature

Shakespeare was born and brought up inStratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twinsHamnet and Judith. Sometime 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, which has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, and religious beliefs and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.^[5]

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613.^{[6][nb 4]} His early plays were primarily comedies and histories, which are regarded as some of the best work ever produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, includingHamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works in the English language.^[2] In his last phase, he wrotetragicomedies, 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, however, John Hemingesand Henry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.^[7] It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as "not of an age, but for all time".^[7]

In the 20th and 21st centuries, his works have been repeatedly adapted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.