William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. His mom, Mary, was the daughter of a wealthy man from a near by village. His father, John, was a glove maker and was fairly active in trade. John also held a number of positions in Stratford's government and served as the mayor in 1569.
Though no documents survived from Shakespeare's grade school years, he probably attended the Stratford grammar school. It is thought that he had to end his education at about thirteen to help his father make more money for the family. At age eighteen he married Anne Hathaway.
There are no records of Shakespeare's activities between 1585 and 1592 though some have speculated that he was a traveling actor. The earliest mention of his career in London, is revealed through a jealous attack by Robert Greene, a playwright, which hints that Shakespeare had already been successful in the
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His popularity snowballed throughout his career as a playwright. Shakespeare, who also wrote poems and made major breakthroughs in plays, morphing a Tragedy and a Romance. Shakespeare also used soliloquies to express characters' thoughts, something that was new to Literature. His work heavily influenced later poetry.
Shakespeare was also extremely brilliant and ahead of his time as he created over 1,700 new words. Some of these words include bandit, birthplace and even the word swagger. Many phrases sprung forth from his writing also, even including “a drop in the ocean”. The contributions that Shakespeare made to Literature and English as well are colossal.
There is some controversy within the success of Shakespeare though that does taint his reputation. Based on the way that Shakespeare signed his name and his vast variety of writing styles and the assortment of genres. Though this theory has not been confirmed, many think that he was incapable of writing all that he was said to, thus adding to the legend of