Who was Shakespeare?

Little is known about Shakespeare and most the facts only lead to vague parts of his life, we know that he was born a hundred miles away from London and that he had two sisters.  Nothing is recorded of his education, he eventually married an older woman and had twins one of which died.  His career was successful and he eventually opened up his own theatre.  I think highschool students don't like hearing the name Shakespeare because they just think of his work as...work, instead of entertainment.  I can start to appreciate how much effort he put into his writing and all the literary elements while still writing in iambic pentameter.  I think that he was a great writer its just his work can be hard to understand since it was written in an older form of english which I still struggle with understanding.