William Shakespeare was great English playwright, dramatist and poet who lived during
the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the
greatest playwright of all time. No other writer’s plays have been produced so many times
or read so widely in so many countries as his.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford in 1564. He was one of eight children. When
William Shakespeare was about seven years old, he probably began attending the Stratford
Grammar School with other boys of his social class. Students went to school year round
attending school for nine hours a day.
The teachers were strict disciplinarians. Stratford was an exciting place to live. Stratford
also had fields and woods surrounding it giving William the opportunity to hunt and trap
small game. The River Avon, which ran through die town, endowed him the title the Bard
of Avon.
Shakespeare’s poems and plays show love for nature and rural life which reflects his
childhood. In London, Shakespeare’s career took off. It is believed that he may have
become well I known in London theatrical life by 1592. By that time, he had joined one of
die city’s repertory theatre companies.
These companies were made up of a permanent cast of actors who presented different
plays week after week. The companies were commercial organisations that depended on
admission from their audience. Scholars know that Shakespeare belonged to one of the
most popular acting companies in London called ‘the Lord Chamberlain’s Men’.
