William Shakespeare
Baptised April 26, 1564, died April 23, 1616. English poet, playwright and actor. Often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time.
In his times people were more sceptical. Robert Greene attacked him in A Groatsworth of Wit as "upstart crow, beautiful in our feathers, that, with his tiger's heart wrapt in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you, and, being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is, in his own conceit, the only Shakescene in the country".
In the Restoration, Shakespeare was criticised for his chaotic plays. Good style, but too irregular, was the common opinion. Therefore quite a few dramatists set out to improve him. Thus, Antony and Cleopatra became All for Love by John Dryden. Macbeth was turned into a kind of musical by Thomas Shadwell and Dryden. And King Lear was given a happy ending by Nahum Tate.