Shakespeare's earliest plays would only foreshadow what was to come. "The English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare was the author of the most widely admired and influential body of literature by any individual in the history of Western civilization." He would end up writing 36 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 narrative poems. While in London, Shakespeare had become an actor and a writer. He also attracted the jealousy of a university-trained poet and won the respect of many for his civility, his honesty, and his experience as an actor and a writer. Shakespeare enjoyed acting in some of his plays just as much as he enjoyed writing them. By 1592, he was acting with a group of actors called the King's Men. He was then able to hold shares in the company's profits, which enabled him to invest in the Globe Theatre where he staged many of his plays. This theatre was a playhouse with a stage raised four to six feet from the ground; there were no curtains to open or close at the beginning or at the end of plays. The theatre did have three sets of tier seats that seated about 2,000 to 3,000 people. On most nights that a play was being performed, the Globe Theatre was packed. After about fifteen years of living and breathing the life of a poet and a playwright, Shakespeare retired from active service as the leading playwright of the King's Men. He then returned to Stratford in 1616. A couple of short months later he ironically died on April 23, which is suspected to be his birthday.
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