Shakespeare's World

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letter,
and no original manuscript of a Shakespeare play survives. There is no direct
record of his conversations, and no one in his home town seems to have known
that he was a successful playwright while he was alive. There is not even a
contemporary portrait to reveal his true appearance. Although a number of
mentions of William Shakespeare the poet-dramatist appear on record during the
1590's and early 1600's, they comment only briefly on his writings, telling us
nothing about the man. Less is known about Shakespeare than almost any other
playwright of his time.
The orthodox version of William Shakespeare's life is probably the most
widely accepted Shakespeare legend of them all. According to it, he was born on
23 April 1564, in an upstairs room of a Stratford house in Warwickshire. He was
born to John and Mary Shakespeare, and was baptized Gulielmus filius Johannes
Shakspere (William, son of John Shakespeare) three days later. His father ran a
successful glove making ...

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potential rival.
On 18 April 1593 Shakespeare's first poem, Venus and Adonis was
patronized by Lord Southampton, and over the next few years he wrote well over
150 published poems. By 1595, Shakespeare was one of the most accomplished
dramatists of his day. In March of that year two of his plays were performed
before the Queen herself. Over the next twenty years he wrote no fewer than
thirty-seven plays.
By the late 1590's Shakespeare acquired shares in many theatres. In 1599,
he bought shares in the newly built theatre in Southwark. His financial acumen
had already reaped rewards. As early as 1597 Shakespeare returned to buy New
Place, the second largest house in the town of ...

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