Writing about the life of William Shakespeare is a bit like trying
to catch an echo with your hands. Public records verify the
existence of a William Shakespeare who was born and raised in
Stratford and then became a resident of London. However, there is
no direct proof that this man, the son of a modestly affluent
glover, was responsible for the plays and poems that have
immortalized his name. In spite of, or perhaps because of, this
uncertainty, Shakespearean biography has proved a fertile scholarly
enterprise since the publication of Edward Dowde