The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), who remains the most widely known and admired writer in English literature, was born at Stratford upon Avon, Warwickshire, in 1564, son of John Shakespeare and his wife the former Mary Arden and was educated there. He married Anne Hathaway in Stratford in 1582 and by her, had three children. He wrote his first plays, A Comedy of Errors and Titus Andronicus, in 1589 and by 1592 was established in London as a playwright and actor, writing his famed histories and major comedies during the 1590sand his great Tragedies which were performed at the Globe Theatre in the decade that followed. Shakespeare died at Stratford on 23 April 1616. His Sonnets were published in 1609 and the first collect edition. The First Folio of his 36 plays (to which Pericles was subsequently added) in 1623.