William Shakespeare was a great English playwright, and poet who lived during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Shakespeare is considered to be the greatest playwright of all time. No other writer's plays have been produced so many times or read so widely in so many countries as his. Shakespeare was born in Stratford England in 1564. His father was a glovemaker who owned a leather shop, and his mother was a farmer's daughter. William Shakespeare was one of eight children. His family was well off and he began attending the Stratford Grammar School at age seven. He went to school year round and attended school for nine hours a day. Though Sh