Questions about William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor from Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and several shorter poems.

His exact birth date is unknown. He was baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 26 April 1564, and his birthday is traditionally celebrated on 23 April.

Shakespeare died in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23 April 1616, aged 52. The cause is unknown, and he was buried at Holy Trinity Church on 25 April.

He is buried in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. His wife Anne and other members of the family are buried nearby.

About 39 plays are wholly or partly attributed to Shakespeare. The number varies because several plays were collaborative, disputed or lost.

The 1609 collection Shake-speares Sonnets contains 154 sonnets, followed by the poem A Lover’s Complaint.

He married Anne Hathaway in late November 1582. He was 18; she was about 26 and pregnant with their first child.

William and Anne had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died in 1596 at the age of 11.

The phrase describes roughly 1585 to 1592, when very few documentary records of Shakespeare survive. Stories that he poached deer or taught school are later legends, not established facts.

He almost certainly attended the King’s New School, Stratford’s free grammar school. No attendance register survives, so this cannot be proved directly.

Yes. Contemporary records connect him with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men, as an actor as well as a playwright and shareholder.

In 1594 he became a founding sharer of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. Under James I’s patronage, the company became the King’s Men in 1603.

The Globe burned on 29 June 1613 after a stage cannon used in Henry VIII set its thatched roof alight. It was rebuilt in 1614 and later demolished around 1644–45.

The First Folio is the 1623 collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays, compiled by John Heminges and Henry Condell. It preserved 36 plays, including 18 not previously printed.

That claim is too simple. Many words have their earliest recorded use in Shakespeare, but earlier examples continue to be found; it is safer to say he recorded or popularised them.

He spoke and wrote Early Modern English. Its grammar and vocabulary are close enough to modern English to be recognisable, though some meanings and forms differ.

“Bard” means poet, especially a revered national poet. “The Bard of Avon” links Shakespeare with the River Avon and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Hamlet is generally the longest Shakespeare play by line count, though totals vary between editions because the surviving early texts differ.

The overwhelming scholarly consensus is yes. Contemporary testimony, publications, company records and the Stratford monument all identify William Shakespeare of Stratford as the author.

“Wherefore” means “why”, not “where”. Juliet is asking why the man she loves must be Romeo, a member of the rival Montague family.

It is traditionally celebrated on 23 April. The date is plausible but unproved; the secure record is his baptism on 26 April 1564.

The original texts are in the public domain. Modern editions, translations, introductions, notes and recordings may still be protected by copyright.