Robert Greene's sniping sarcasm about the "upstart crow" in 1592 is the first known public reference to Shakespeare. Already, the 28-year-old Stratfordian - the impoverished son of an illiterate glover from a sleepy provincial town in Warwickshire - had caused enough of a stir in London's theatrical world to arouse envy among his university-educated "betters." (Greene's quip about "his tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide" parodies Shakespeare's wonderful growling line "Oh, tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide," from King Henry VI, Part III.)

By the time Ben Jonson gushed with praise while introducing the publication of Shakespeare's collected plays in 1623, the once-obscure man from Stratford (who had been dead for 7 years) was on his way to becoming the most celebrated poet and playwright in England - and possibly in all of history.

He was born in Stratford in 1564, and baptized on April 26 of that year. In 1582, when he was 18, he married Anne Hathaway, who was 26. In Sonnet 145, Shakespeare plays on Hathaway/"hate away":

Six months later, Anne bore William a daughter named Susanna. Two years later, the Shakespeares had twins, a boy Hamnet (yes, Hamnet, with an 'n', not an 'l': though both Hamnet and Hamlet were fairly common names in Warwickshire) and a girl Judith.

Then Shakespeare disappears from the historical record until Greene fishes him from oblivion in 1592, by which time the young playwright was presumably in London.

He worked as an actor with various companies before settling down with the Lord Chamberlain's Men - Queen Elizabeth's favorite company. When King James took the throne in 1603, this same company became known as the King's Men, retaining their preeminence at court. Oral tradition claims that Shakespeare played the roles of the ghost in Hamlet, Old Adam in As You Like It, and the Chorus in Henry V; he certainly acted in at least one of Ben Jonson's plays.

But it was writing, not acting, that made Shakespeare famous. He wrote at least 37 plays, a sonnet sequence of 154 poems, and several long narrative poems. Though his plays probably began appearing on stage around 1590, he first set his name in print with two widely-praised poems: Venus and Adonis in 1593, and The Rape of Lucrece in 1594, both dedicated to the Earl of Southampton. His name did not appear on printed plays until 1598 (though several had previously been published - or pirated - anonymously).

Back in Stratford, his son Hamnet died in August 1596, age 11. In October, Shakespeare's father was granted a coat of arms - a falcon holding a spear - and the motto Non sanz droict, "Not without right," giving father and son the status of gentlemen.

Jonson described Shakespeare as "honest, and of an open and free nature," with "an excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle expressions." He could also, Jonson snickered, come out with some howlers "which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues."

As Shakespeare had once played on his wife's name, so he toyed with his own. Sonnets 135 and 136 pun repeatedly on the name Will, ending with the proclamation, "My name is Will." He could also play on his name with scurrilous spontaneity - as attested by a barrister named John Manningham in 1602:

One day, Manningham noted in his diary, Shakespeare overheard a woman making an assignation with his company's dashing lead actor, Richard Burbage (think George Clooney), during a performance of Richard III. Before Burbage could free himself from the theater, Shakespeare went off to the lady's house and insinuated himself first into her good graces, and thence into her sheets. By the time the unwitting Burbage arrived, noted Manningham, Shakespeare was already "at his game." Still in the dark, Burbage had the servants announce that King Richard III was at the door.

In reply, Shakespeare sent down to say that William the Conqueror came before Richard the Third.

"Shakespeare's name," noted Manningham (as if he might forget) was "William."

Shakespeare made his money not from writing plays (which paid poorly), but by becoming a shareholder in his company of actors and their public playhouses, most famously the Globe. In London he lived modestly, in rented rooms. By 1597, however, he had squirreled away enough money to buy "New Place," the second-largest house in Stratford. Meanwhile, he defaulted on his taxes in London, and was summoned to court as a witness to his landlord's familial problems.

Records of real estate and agricultural investments, grain storing (or possibly hoarding), small lawsuits, and money-lending would suggest that Shakespeare was spending a fair amount of time in Stratford after 1604. When he actually retired there is uncertain - but he must have done so by 1613, when he stopped writing plays. Even so, he did not remove himself from the London scene entirely. In April 1613, he bought a residence in the city's Blackfriars district, in a complicated transaction that seems to have been designed to guarantee that his wife could never get hold of it. In late June of that year, the Globe burned down. There is no record of Shakespeare contributing to its reconstruction.

William Shakespeare died in Stratford on April 23, 1616, and was buried there in the parish church. He left the bulk of his estate to his elder daughter Susanna. To his younger daughter Judith, who had married a married a man Shakespeare disapproved of, he left the interest on £150. To his wife, he left his second-best bed.

Though he left money for funeral rings for his fellow actors Richard Burbage, John Heminges, and Henry Condell, Shakespeare's will made no mention of manuscripts or books - or, indeed, of anything else to do with his long and illustrious career in the theater.