William Shakespeare (1564 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon to a glovemaker's family, he rose to become a leading figure of the London stage, co-owning the Globe Theatre and writing for the celebrated company known as the Lord Chamberlain's Men and later the King's Men. Over a career of some twenty-five years, he produced at least thirty-nine plays among them Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Night's Dream along with 154 sonnets and several narrative poems, ranging effortlessly from soaring tragedy to riotous comedy and sweeping history. His inexhaustible invention, psychological insight, and unmatched command of language reshaped English literature, enriched the language itself with countless words and phrases still in daily use, and continue to speak to audiences across every continent four centuries after his death.
