Who they were
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare worked in London as actor, playwright, and shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, who played at the Globe. He wrote some 38 plays — tragedies such as Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear, comedies, histories — and 154 sonnets, published together in the First Folio of 1623, seven years after his death.
What they did
He expanded the expressive range of English drama and coined or popularized hundreds of words and phrases still in use.
Legacy
Shakespeare’s works have never left the stage and have been translated into every major language. He is the central figure of the English literary canon and a global cultural reference.