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Although there is little direct evidence relating to Shakespeare's childhood and adolescence, it is almost certain that he was educated at the free grammar school in his native Stratford-on-Avon, England. As Shakespeare entered his teens, his father experienced serious financial setbacks, and William apparently had to leave school to help support the family. At eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children. Sometime after the birth of his children, Shakespeare left Stratford-on-Avon and went to London, where he began his career as an actor and playwright. By 1594, he had gained both wealth and prestige, performing at court for Queen Elizabeth I. During the 1590s, he wrote a series of sonnets, many of which address themes of love. His plays include comedies such as As You Like It (1599), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595), and Twelfth Night (1599). Shakespeare's best-known tragedies are Hamlet (1602), Othello (1604), King Lear (1605), and Macbeth (1606). Richard III (1592) and Henry IV, Parts I and II (1590) are among his plays based on historical political struggles of England's ruling families. In 1611, he retired to Stratford, where he lived until his death in 1616. After his burial, his grave was marked by a stone bearing an inscription (supposedly dictated by Shakespeare himself) that warns all who come "Bleste Be Ye Man Yt Spares Thes Stones / And Curst Be HeYt Moves My Bones."

Major works by Shakespeare

The Comedy of Errors (c. 1590)
Richard III (c. 1591)
Venus and Adonis (1593, poetry)
Richard II (c. 1595)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (c. 1595)
The Merchant of Venice (c. 1596)
Romeo and Juliet (c. 1596)
Henry V (c. 1599)
Julius Caesar (1599)
Hamlet (c. 1600)
Othello (1604)
King Lear (c. 1605)
Macbeth (c. 1606)
The Sonnets of Shakespeare (1609, poetry)
The Tempest (1611)

Shakespeare and the Web

This is a start page from Professor Terry Reilly at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. It's a webliography organized into eight categories, and a great place to start your research.

Here's a link to The Complete Works   in etext at Project Gutenberg.

This is a homepage of the Globe Theatre site, with links to everything from the Globe's history, to info about how to buy tickets for the current season.