Who Was Shakespeare?

             When I typed into Google, "Who was Shakespeare?" my results varied; whether it was articles on de Vere with accusations of Shakespeare being a fraud, or Wikipedia (and other websites) talking about William Shakespeare's writing styles and life stories.The sites acting as biographies said  that Shakespeare's birth date was unknown, but we do know that he was baptised Apri 26, 1564. He lived and died in Warwickshire, England. Shakespeare was married to a woman named Anne Hathaway with three children. He died in 1616. His early plays were mostly comedies and histories. Throughout time they turned into tragedies and later, tragicomedies. He was a respected poet and playwright in his day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the 19th century. In all honesty, students really respect his work, but when we have to study a different work of Shakespeare each school  year, we begin to dread the work of someone with a very powerful message. We understand that he wrote several masterpieces; but as we continue to study each work, we do progress in our ability to perceive what he is saying... but, it is often said by our generation that this type of literature is irrelevant to our futures. I understand now that it might take me a few times reading a passage to understand Shakespeare's message but I do admit that I (among several others) still struggle with all of that old English that has completely different meanings for things than what we are used to.