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A LOVE OF WORDS<o:p></o:p>My parents were hard-working. Father made gloves and was a bailiff. Mother looked after the animals in the yard and the seven children including me. Our house was always busy, and at home and in school, my world was a fascinating one of stories. These revolved around people, their emotions and relationships.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F8f4b729d98bf4662aef970b367285999" alt="" style="width: 352px; height: 264px;"> <o:p></o:p>When ideas took my fancy, I would pick up my quill and inkpot to jot down the possibilities, sometimes sonnets, and sometimes just a few short lines. <o:p></o:p>At school, I read parchments made into hornbooks, The Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments. Then, I advanced to reading texts in Latin and Greek. I loved to play with words. I used language to make people laugh - and sometimes I used it to shock people too. I was a born actor and language was a powerful tool in catching people’s attention. <o:p></o:p>BECOMING A WRITER<o:p></o:p>I spent seven years of my early adult life working out how to be who I really wanted to be. During this time, I met Anne Hathaway. I asked her to marry me and she said yes. She was 26 and I was just 18.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F938851efd1814e4c999ba2e07ee9464d" alt="" style="width: 356.602px; height: 258.531px;"> <o:p></o:p>To begin with, we had no money, so we lived with my parents. Our daughter, Susanna, was born in May 1583. Two years later the twins, Hamnet and Judith, arrived. Our house was certainly blessed, but I was still young and impatient to launch a career that captured my passion for writing, acting and stories. <o:p></o:p>I began to think that I would need to go to London to pursue my passions. <o:p></o:p>So, in 1588, I packed my bags, leaving the family behind to try my hand as an actor, dramatist and possibly, even as an owner of a theatre company. I was just 24 years old, but I believed strongly in my talent and my ability to command an audience.<o:p></o:p>FINDING SUCCESS<o:p></o:p>The streets of London were noisy and narrow. Salesmen shouted on each corner. Bells rang out and there were beggars with creased faces that looked hungry. Disease and sickness were rife! And the stench! The streets smelt like the pigs had rolled down them. The sights and sounds were a far cry from the pleasant fields of Stratford-upon-Avon. As I lay my head down to sleep on those first few whirlwind evenings, I worried about what would happen if I caught either the bubonic plague or smallpox. I was a long way from the sanctuary and simplicity of my home.<o:p></o:p>During the day, I sold tickets for plays and at night I acted. People wanted to be entertained and plays were in high demand. My imagination worked overtime, and I started to write. All those jottings from across the years began to pour out of me.<o:p></o:p>By 1592, my first play The Taming of the Shrew was performed. Critics thought I was trying to rise above my station and disliked that I wasn’t university educated. It was hard at times, but it didn’t stop me.<o:p></o:p>I continued to write plays furiously, mainly historical, such as Henry VI, but also romances and comedies, such as Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing. In 1594, I bought a share in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men Theatre Company. <o:p></o:p>FORGING FORWARD<o:p></o:p>As my plays were gaining appreciation (the queen herself had seen several of them), tragedy hit my family. The death of my only son from the plague was devastating. <o:p></o:p>I bought a new family home called ‘New Place’ in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1597, as a distraction for us all, but the grief of dealing with death pushed my mind into depths of despair. It was several years later that I was able to write the play Hamlet. It was a way to honour the life of my dear son.<img src="https://cdn.builder.io/api/v1/image/assets%2Fb3b13b7f131f44b8b9040dab74852379%2F25b32d541cdc4ab88bcd937c0a2de14d" alt="" style="width: 397.958px; height: 298.469px;"> <o:p></o:p>In 1599, our theatre group built the new Globe Theatre. After the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, King James I gave us his royal approval and we changed our name to the King’s Men. I was now making enough money to be able to write to my heart’s content and the crowds flocked to see my plays.<o:p></o:p>AN EXTRAORDINARY LEGACYI made up new words for fun, like ‘bandit’ and ‘critic’. Sometimes I just used words and created phrases that caught on quickly, like ‘green-eyed monster’ and ‘makes your hair stand on end’. <o:p></o:p>I kept details about my own life private, and instead thought deeply about how people really feel and act. To bring characters to life, I always put myself fully in their shoes.&nbsp; <o:p></o:p>My scripts moved people to tears. Because people connected with what I wrote, I knew that my work would appeal to audiences long after I was gone.&nbsp;GLOSSARY<o:p></o:p>Bailiff – someone hired by a sheriff to bring legal documents to people and to take away possessions when people cannot pay for them.<o:p></o:p>Sonnets – a poem with 14 lines that is written to a particular structure.<o:p></o:p>Hornbooks – an early teaching aid for children, consisting of a leaf of paper, mounted on a wooden tablet, and protected by a transparent sheet of horn.LEGACY AND RECOGNITION<ul><li>William Shakespeare is one of the world’s most respected writers of all time, and his plays are still performed around the world.</li><li>Though Shakespeare is so famous, very little is actually known about him. What we do know about his life comes from registrar records, court records, wills, marriage certificates and his tombstone.</li><li>The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust maintains several properties linked to his life, including his birthplace in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon.</li><li>The Royal Shakespeare Company was formed in 1961, to offer both traditional and new performances of Shakespeare. It is based in Stratford-upon-Avon, where it has three theatres, and it regularly performs in London and tours with shows in the UK and around the world.</li><li>The original Globe Theatre that Shakespeare part-owned was destroyed in 1644. The new theatre, Shakespeare’s Globe, was opened in 1997, by Queen Elizabeth II, after years of fund-raising and research. It looks just like the original.</li><li>William Shakespeare’s works have been translated into 80 languages, including Star Trek’s Klingon. He helped shape the English we use today, introducing up to 300 words and dozens of well-known phrases.</li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;">IMAGE CAPTIONS AND CREDITSShakespeare’s birthplace,&nbsp;Philip Sheldrake, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p>Shakespeare’s family circle,&nbsp;Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<o:p></o:p>Globe Theatre,&nbsp;McKay Savage from London, UK, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons</div>

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