Shakespeare Biographical

William Shakespeare was the third of eight children born to John and Mary Shakespeare (http://www.playshakespeare.com/directory).  William was born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England.  However, the exact date of his birth is still somewhat of a mystery.  At the age of 18, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was twice as old as he was.  Anne was already several months pregnant at the time of their marriage.  She ended up giving birth to twins, Judith and Hamnet, the latter of which died at the age of 11 from unknown complications.  After the death of his son, Shakespeare vanished from the public eye for seven years.  These seven years are known as "The Hidden Years" (http://www.bardweb.net/man.html).  Shakespeare began his acting and playwriting career in the year 1592.  Soon after, the Plague hit and all theatres were shut down.  Facing unemployment, Shakespeare began to write narrative poems.  The plays the Shakespeare wrote focused on areas of actual human experience.  This leads us to believe that he had a vast amount of knowledge of people and of human nature (http://www.playshakespeare.com/directory).  Shakespeare was known as the poet who wrote from the stage.  Shakespeare invested into a theatre in London.  He, along with his business partner Richard Burbage, had the theatre dismantled and relocated in Southwark.  This theatre is famously known as The Globe.  Shakespeare allegedly died on April 23, 1616 and is buried at the Holy Trinity Church.  One very intriguing fact about Shakespeare is that he is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with the introduction of nearly 3,000 words into the English language.