Life of William Shakespeare is a biography of William Shakespeare by the eminent critic Sidney Lee. This book was one of the first major biographies of the Bard of Avon. It was published in 1898, based on the article contributed to the Dictionary of National Biography. William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. Sir Sidney Lee (1859 – 1926) was an English biographer and critic. He was a lifelong scholar and enthusiast of Shakespeare. His article on Shakespeare in the fifty-first volume of the Dictionary of National Biography formed the basis of his Life of William Shakespeare. This full-length life is often credited as the first modern biography of the poet.
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Dramatizing the psychological strain of political ambition, murder, and moral decay, Hamlet and Macbeth set enduring standards for Renaissance tragedy through complex soliloquies and dramatic structure. William Shakespeare produced these works alongside a expansive repertoire of dramatic and poetic literature in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England. Often called the Bard of Avon and England's national poet, his surviving output includes roughly 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and several narrative poems. Translated into every major living language, his plays are performed more frequently worldwide than those of any other playwright.
Baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare was the son of John Shakespeare, a prosperous glove maker and wool dealer, and Mary Arden. He likely received his early education at the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford, where he studied Latin grammar, classical rhetoric, and Roman drama. At age eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had three children: Susanna, born in 1583, and twins Judith and Hamnet, born in 1585. By the early 1590s, he had established himself in London as an actor, playwright, and joint partner in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, a prominent theatrical company later known as the King's Men under King James I.
Shakespeare's career revolved around two key locations: Stratford, where he purchased substantial property and maintained his family home, and London, the hub of English professional theater. His dramatic output spanned genres, from early slapstick comedies like The Comedy of Errors to historical plays including Richard III, Henry IV, Part 2, and Henry V, as well as domestic comedies such as The Merry Wives of Windsor. He continued to write and act in London until retiring to Stratford around 1613, where he died on April 23, 1616.
Shakespeare's writing is noted for its linguistic vitality, innovative blank verse, and deep character development. He contributed significantly to the evolution of the English language, coining or first recording over 1,700 words by combining everyday speech with classical poetic techniques. His dramatic works often blend comic and tragic elements within a single play, exploring universal themes of governance, romantic devotion, jealousy, betrayal, and human vulnerability.
Beyond his plays, The Sonnets reflect his mastery of poetic form, examining love, time, mortality, and artistic expression across 154 interconnected poems. In tragedies such as Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Julius Caesar, Shakespeare utilized dramatic irony, multi-layered plots, and psychological introspection to create stage texts that remain deeply influential in performance and literary study.
