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William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He was the son of John and Mary Shakespeare. He attended Startford- upon Avon's local grammer school at age six and graduated at age sixteen. William was eighteen when he married a woman named Anne Hathaway who was eight years older than him. Anne bore their first daughter, Susanna in the first year of their marriage and less than two years later she gave birth to twins, Hamnet and Judith. Shakespeare's only son Hamnet drowned a few years later at the age eleven and it is thought that William named his renown play Hamlet after his son and included the drowning scene in his honor. Upon the loss of his son, William left his family and headed for London to write his plays.

William Shakespeare was a playwright and poet. He was also an actor and dramatist. His stories were very popular with the English people because they portrayed characters like the English kings. Some of his more famous plays were Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. His plays were performed in a theater which was why he had the Globe Theater built. William Shakespeare is considered by most to be the greatest poet and playwright that ever lived.

On Shakespeare's gravestone are four lines of verse:

Good friend, for Jesus´ sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here!
Blest be the man that spares these stones
And curst be he that moves my bones.