Bate's Soul of the Age tells the story of the great dramatist while deducing the crucial events of Shakespeare's life, connecting those events to his world and work as never before, and revealing how this unsurpassed artist came to be.

Stratford 1564 -- The discovery of England -- The boy from the Greenwood -- Old world, new man? -- Stratford grammar -- After Palingenius -- Continuing education : the art of translation -- The school of Prospero -- Shakespeare's small library -- The married man -- Before the bawdy court -- The perplexities of love -- The famous victory of Queen Elizabeth -- Essex man? : A political tragedy in five acts -- The clash of civilizations -- Shakespeare and Jacobean geopolitics -- At Clement's Inn -- After Machiavelli -- The king's man -- The myth of Shakespeare's retirement -- The principal comedians -- The foolosopher -- The readiness is all -- Shakespeare the epicurean -- Exit and reentrance.