The Sonnets

William Shakespeare was born at Stratford upon Avon in April, 1564. He was the third child and eldest son of John Shakespeare, a prosperous Stratford businessman who held chief offices in the town, and Mary Arden.

In December, 1582, Shakespeare married Ann Hathaway, a farmer’s daughter. Their first child, Susanna, was baptized on May 6, 1583, and twins, Hamnet and Judith, on February 22, 1585. Little is known of Shakespeare’s early life, but it is unlikely that a writer with such an incomparable range of human experience spent his early manhood solely in a country town. Popular theories suggest he fled Stratford due to deer-stealing trouble or worked as a schoolmaster for a time.

Records become fuller from 1592. In March of that year, Lord Strange’s Players staged Harry the Sixth at the Rose Theatre, likely the First Part of Henry VI. In the autumn of 1592, dying writer Robert Greene warned fellow playwrights against an “upstart crow” and “Johannes Factotum,” a passage seen as the first reference to Shakespeare and an indication of his sudden fame.

In April, 1593, Shakespeare published his poem Venus and Adonis, dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, which achieved great and lasting success. His second poem, The Rape of Lucrece, also dedicated to Southampton, followed in May, 1594.

Theaters were largely closed in 1593 due to plague, but in the autumn of 1594, playing companies reorganized. Shakespeare became a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s company, performing at the Theatre in Shoreditch. By this time, he had written Henry VI (Parts 1-3), Richard III, Titus Andronicus, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Comedy of Errors, and The Taming of the Shrew. He soon followed with Romeo and Juliet, and in the next three years, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard II, and The Merchant of Venice. The two parts of Henry IV, featuring the popular character Falstaff, were written in 1597-8.

The company moved from the Theatre in 1597 due to lease disputes, first to the Curtain in Shoreditch. In 1598, they demolished the old Theatre and built a new playhouse, the Globe, on the south bank of the Thames. Shakespeare, now a man of means, was a shareholder in the new Globe. In 1596, he had purchased New Place, a large house in Stratford, for £60, and acquired a coat-of-arms, officially recognizing his family’s gentle status.

By the summer of 1598, Shakespeare was recognized as England’s greatest dramatist, with his plays being printed, sometimes in pirated versions. Shortly before the Globe opened, he completed the Wars of the Roses cycle with Henry V, followed by As You Like It and Julius Caesar, his first mature tragedy. In the following three years, he wrote Troilus and Cressida, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Hamlet, and Twelfth Night.

Upon Queen Elizabeth’s death on March 24, 1603, King James became a more enthusiastic patron. The Lord Chamberlain’s company was taken over by the King and became known as the King’s Men, performing frequently at Court and prospering. In the early years of James’ reign, Shakespeare wrote the somber comedies All’s Well that Ends Well and Measure for Measure, followed by Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. He then returned to Roman themes with Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus.

In 1608, the King’s Men acquired a second playhouse, the Blackfriars, a private indoor theater with higher ticket prices and a more select audience. Shakespeare appears to have retired from acting around this time, as his name is absent from player lists after 1607. He largely resided in Stratford, regarded as an important citizen. He continued to write, experimenting with the tragi-comedy form, producing Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest, which was performed at Court in 1611.

Shakespeare died at Stratford upon Avon on April 23, 1616, and was buried in the chancel of the church, before the high altar.

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