shakespeare

the life
although the amount of factual knowledge available about shakespeare is surprisingly large for one of his station in life, many find it a little disappointing, for it is mostly gleaned from documents of an official character. dates of baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials wills, conveyances, legal processes, and payments by the court--these are the dusty details. there is, however, a fair number of contemporary allusions to him as a writer, and these add a reasonable amount of flesh and blood to the biographical skeleton.

early life in stratford.
the parish register of holy trinity church, stratford upon avon, warwickshire, shows that he was baptized there on april 26, 1564 his birthday is traditionally celebrated on april 23. his father, john shakespeare, was a burgess of the borough, who in 1565 was chosen an alderman and in 1568 bailiff the position corresponding to mayor, before the grant of a further charter to stratf...