William Shakespeare | What was Shakespeare's childhood like?

From the available evidence, we know that Shakespeare was born on or about 23 April, 1564, that he had several sisters and at least one brother, that his mother, Mary Arden, was from the gentry class, and that his father was a merchant/tradesman (perhaps a glover or dealer in leather goods) who married above his station and rose into what we might consider the respectable upper-middle class. Shakespeare grew up in the Tudor market town of Stratford-on-Avon, a lovely village surrounded by extensive, unspoiled woods. His father, John Shakespeare, served as a burgess on the local municipal...

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