The Complete Life of William Shakespeare

Stratford, London and In Between

Paul Menzer

• Publisher: The Arden Shakespeare
• Year: 2026
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350542648
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Shakespeare Drama
• Index: Literature

Shakespeare's extraordinarily ordinary life condenses into a charming but brief biography in this arresting tale of love, loss and return. Beginning with the early departure to the final homecoming, Paul Menzer considers the wonder of Shakespeare's story with the little facts we have about his life to guide us through the language and characters which define Shakespeare.

Life events are glimpsed across Shakespeare's wide-ranging output, be it personal quest and departure from a small town in The Taming of The Shew, the death of a father and the cruel loss of his own son in Hamlet, or retirement and old age in The Tempest's figure of Prospero. Menzer honours the well-known stories without neglecting the mysteries of why Shakespeare left Stratford, who he ran with in London and why he put down his pen to come home to Anne and his family again, and again.

This edition is adapted from William Shakespeare: A Brief Life with an updated introduction, further connections between Shakespeare's works and personal biography, new illustrations of Shakespeare's journey between London and Stratford, cutting-edge scholarship and recent archival discoveries about Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Dedication Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Introduction: The second greatest story ever told
• 1 SHAKESPEARE’S DEAD
• 2 EARTH UNTO EARTH
• 3 SHAKESPEARE AT SCHOOL
• 4 ANNE HATHAWAY, AKA
• 5 THE LOST YEARS
• 6 STRATFORD IN THE REAR VIEW
• 7 ENTER LONDON
• 8 SHAKESPEARE, PLAYWRIGHT
• 9 SHAKESPEARE, POET
• 10 SHAKESPEARE’S COMPANY
• 11 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, GENT
• 12 SHAKESPEARE AT COURT
• 13 SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE?
• 14 SHAKESPEARE’S PROPERTIES
• 15 THE KING’S MAN
• 16 THE PLAGUE YEARS
• 17 SHAKESPEARE’S DAUGHTERS
• 18 THE RETURNING POINT
• 19 SHAKESPEARE’S HEAD
• Epilogue: Yellow leaves
• Notes
• Index
• Imprint