| There has been many great writers in the history of English literature, |
| but there is no doubt about which writer was the greatest. |
| Many people consider William Shakespeare to have been the best writer who ever lived. |
| William Shakespeare was born in the town of Stratford, England, in the year 1564. |
| When he was a young man, Shakespeare moved to the city of London, |
| where he began writing plays. |
| His plays were soon very successful, |
| and were enjoyed both by common people of London |
| and also by the rich and famous. |
| In addition to his plays, Shakespeare wrote many short poems and a few long poems. |
| Like his plays, these poems are still famous today. |
| Shakespeare’s most famous plays include |
| Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, |
| King Lear, Othello, and Julius Caesar. |
| Usually, Shakespeare did not invent the stories that he told in his plays. |
| Instead, he wrote his plays using stories that already existed. |
| However, Shakespeare’s plays told these stories in a more interesting way than ever before. |
| Some of the stories were tragedies, some were comedies, |
| some described historical events. |
| In his plays, Shakespeare revealed a very wide knowledge of many areas of life. |
| The characters in his plays discuss many different topics, |
| often with the knowledge of experts. |
| But what is even more impressive about these plays |
| is Shakespeare’s use of the English language. |
| His vocabulary was very large, |
| and Shakespeare seemed to have introduced many words to the language! |
| Also, many of the phrases that are said by Shakespeare’s characters |
| are now used in everyday conversation. |
| Today, writers often use quotations from Shakespeare’s plays in their own works. |
| But perhaps even the most impressive features of Shakespeare’s plays |
| are the characters within them. |
| The many characters in his plays seem very different from each other, |
| but they seem very realistic. |
| The emotions they feel, the words they say, and the actions they perform |
| are all easily understood. |
| Many people who watch one of Shakespeare’s plays will find that they know people who remind them |
| somewhat of the characters in those plays. |
| Shakespeare died in the year 1619, |
| but his writings are still popular today, |
| 400 years after they were written. |
| The poems and plays are greatly admired by experts in literature, |
| but also by people in general. |
| Each year, hundreds of thousands of people enjoy attending performances of Shakespeare’s plays. |
| No other writer in the English language has remained so popular for such a long time. |
