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[[Image:Foliou.jpg|right|thumb|[[portraits|Engraving]] of William Shakespeare on the cover of the First Folio (1623), the first collected edition of his plays]]

|image=Foliou.jpg

|birth_date= c. March/April 1564

|birth_place=Stratford-Upon-Avon

|death_date=April 23, 1616 (aged 52)

'''William Shakespeare''' (1564-1616), also called the Bard of Avon or simply the Bard, was an Elizabethan playwright considered the greatest in the English language and possibly the world for his masterful plots, poetic dialogue, and subtle [[conservative]] themes.<ref>"Shakespeare, William."  ''Encyclopedia Britannica Online''.</ref> Many of his plays are beloved throughout the world, and are required reading in most English-speaking schools. Among the most famous are his ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', the ending known to almost every English speaker, ''[[Macbeth]]'', a renowned yet bloody tragedy, ''[[Julius Caesar]]'', a historical tragedy depicting the former dictator of Rome, ''[[King Lear]]'', the whimsical ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', ''[[Hamlet]]'' and ''[[Othello]]''.<ref>''The New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference''.  Prentice Hall: New York, 1991.</ref><ref>"Shakespeare I."  ''Great Books of the Western World''.</ref>  His works were performed mostly at his patron theater, the [[Globe Theater]], and were first published posthumously in 1623 in the ''First Folio'', perhaps due to a lack of [[copyright]] protection during Shakespeare's life.<ref>The first copyright law was in 1710.</ref>  The total number of words in all of Shakespeare's works is nearly 900,000, or slightly more than the word length of the [[Bible]].

'''William Shakespeare''' (1564-1616), also called the Bard of Avon or simply the Bard, was an Elizabethan playwright considered the greatest in the English language and possibly the world for his masterful plots, poetic dialogue, and subtle [[conservative]] themes.<ref>"Shakespeare, William."  ''Encyclopedia Britannica Online''.</ref> Many of his plays are beloved throughout the world, and are required reading in most English-speaking schools. Among the most famous are his ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]'', the ending known to almost every English speaker, ''[[Macbeth]]'', a renowned yet bloody tragedy, ''[[Julius Caesar]]'', a historical tragedy depicting the former dictator of Rome, ''[[King Lear]]'', the whimsical ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', ''[[Hamlet]]'' and ''[[Othello]]''.<ref>''The New York Public Library Student's Desk Reference''.  Prentice Hall: New York, 1991.</ref><ref>"Shakespeare I."  ''Great Books of the Western World''.</ref>  His works were performed mostly at his patron theater, the [[Globe Theater]], and were first published posthumously in 1623 in the ''First Folio'', perhaps due to a lack of [[copyright]] protection during Shakespeare's life.<ref>The first copyright law was in 1710.</ref>  The total number of words in all of Shakespeare's works is nearly 900,000, or slightly more than the word length of the [[Bible]].