William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, in England in 1564. While his exact birth date is unknown, it is most often celebrated on April 23, the feast of St. George. He was the third of seven children born to John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. Shakespeare's father was a tanner and glove maker. He was also a fairly prominent political figure, being an alderman of Stratford for years, and serving a term as "high bailiff" (mayor). He died in 1601, leaving little land to William. Not much is known of Mary Shakespeare, except that she had a wealthier family than John.
William Shakespeare attended a very good grammar school in Stratford-upon- Avon, though the time period during which he attended school is not known. His instructors were all Oxford graduates, and his studies were primarily in Latin. Little else is known of his boyhood. In 1582 at 18 years of age, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a lady seven or eight years older than he from Shottery, a village a mile from Stratford. Their first daughter, Susanna, was born in 1583, followed by twins in 1585, Hamnet and Judith. By 1592, Shakespeare was an established playwright in London. The plague kept the theaters closed most of the time, and it was during this time that Shakespeare wrote his earliest sonnets and poems. Shakespeare did most of his theater work in a district northeast of London, in two theaters owned by James Burbage, called the Theatre and the Curtain. In 1598, Burbage moved to Bankside and built the famous Globe Theatre, in which Shakespeare owned stock. Around this time, Shakespeare applied for and got a coat of arms, with the motto: Non sanz droict (not without right). This gave him the standing of a gentleman, something that was not generally associated with actors, who were considered to be in the same class with vagrants and criminals. In 1603, Shakespeare's theatrical company was taken under the patronage of King James I, and became known as the King's Company. In 1608, the company acquired the Blackfriars Theatre. Shakespeare soon joined the group of the now famous writers who gathered at Mermaid Tavern, located on Bread Street in Cheapside. Among others, some of the writers who frequented the Tavern were Sir Walter Raleigh (the founder), and Ben Jonson. Shakespeare retired from theatre in 1610 and returned to Stratford. In 1613 the Globe Theatre burned down, but Shakespeare remained quite wealthy and contributed to the building of the new Globe Theatre . Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616 and was buried in the chancel of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford. A monument to Shakespeare was set up on the north wall of the chancel, with a bust of Shakespeare. The bust and the engraving by Droeshout that prefixed the First Folio are the only renderings of Shakespeare that are considered to be accurate. In Shakespeare's will, he left most of his property to Susanna and her daughter, except for his "second-best bed," which he left to his wife.
   
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed,
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
This is one of the most famous of all the sonnets, justifiably so. But it would be a mistake to take it entirely in isolation, for it links in with so many of the other sonnets through the themes of the descriptive power of verse; the ability of the poet to depict the fair youth adequately, or not; and the immortality conveyed through being hymned in these 'eternal lines'. It is noticeable that here the poet is full of confidence that his verse will live as long as there are people drawing breath upon the earth, whereas later he apologises for his poor wit and his humble lines which are inadequate to encompass all the youth's excellence. Now, perhaps in the early days of his love, there is no such self-doubt and the eternal summer of the youth is preserved forever in the poet's lines. The poem also works at a rather curious level of achieving its objective through dispraise. The summer's day is found to be lacking in so many respects (too short, too hot, too rough, sometimes too dingy), but curiously enough one is left with the abiding impression that 'the lovely boy' is in fact like a summer's day at its best, fair, warm, sunny, temperate, one of the darling buds of May, and that all his beauty has been wonderfully highlighted by the comparison.
The 1609 Quarto Version
SHall I compare thee to a Summers day?
Thou art more louely and more temperate:
Rough windes do ſhake the darling buds of Maie,
And Sommers leaſe hath all too ſhorte a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heauen ſhines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd,
And euery faire from faire ſome-time declines,
By chance,or natures changing courſe vntrim'd:
But thy eternall Sommer ſhall not fade,
Nor looſe poſſeſſion of that faire thou ow'ſt,
Nor ſhall death brag thou wandr'ſt in his ſhade,
When in eternall lines to time thou grow'ſt,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can ſee,
So long liues this,and this giues life to thee,
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