William Shakespeare, who arrived in London at a time of a threat of war with Spain, gave Londoners a diversion with his plays and poetry. Shakespeare was formally educated. Shakespeare was brought up in a hard-working family. Shakespeare moved to London and contributed to literature immediately.Shakespeare’s father, John Shakespeare, was a trader and an owner of property who held a civic office in Stratford (Ludowyk 5). John Shakespeare was a person not of gentle birth, which taught him to be a hard-worker (Ludowyk 5). John was married to Mary Arden. Mary had come from a wealthy and gentle family, unlike John (Ludowyk 6). This made the Shakespeare’s raise their children such as Mary was raised. There were eight children born to John and Mary Shakespeare (Ludowyk 6). One of the children who was born to John and Mary was William Shakespeare. He was born in 1564 in Stratford, England (Lee 8). The exact date of Shakespeare’s birth is not known, but he was given an official birth date of April 23, 1564. That date was also Saint George’s Day in the Catholic religion. April 23 is an appropriate birthday for Shakespeare because Saint George is the Saint of England and Shakespeare would soon turn into England’s greatest dramatic poet. He was baptized on April 26 at the parish church at Stratford on Avon (Ludowyk 3).William Shakespeare was not an unlearned and uneducated genius (Ludowyk 7). At this time in history, at the age of seven a boy would go to grammar school whether he was or was not educated in reading and writing. In the time of Shakespeare, grammar Caldwell 2meant Latin grammar. Grammar was educated by the Lily’s textbook, which was not only used in England but throughout the nation (Rowse 35). The plays Terence and perhaps Plautus were shown to Shakespeare and his class in the lower school (Rowse 37). These two plays may have been what inspired his first comedies. On th...
