Shakespeare most likely went to the King's New School in Stratford-upon-Avon. We don't have his actual enrollment records (they didn't survive), but historians are pretty confident about this based on his family's status in town.
About King's New School
This was a free grammar school that had been around since medieval times and was re-established by King Edward VI in 1553. Since Shakespeare's dad was a prominent local official (alderman and bailiff), William would've been able to attend for free.
Where Was It? The school was in the Guildhall building on Church Street – still standing today! The classroom was upstairs, above the Guild Chapel.
School Hours (Brutal!) Grammar school back then was NO JOKE: - School ran from 6 or 7 AM to 5 or 6 PM - Six days a week (only Sunday off for church) - Short breaks for meals - Brief holidays at Christmas and Easter
What Did He Learn?
The whole curriculum was basically Latin and classical literature. Super intense.
Subjects - **Latin grammar and writing** – The foundation of everything - **Latin literature** – Ovid, Virgil, Horace, Cicero, Seneca - **Rhetoric** – How to argue and write persuasively - **Logic** – Basic reasoning skills - **Some Greek** – But not as much as Latin - **Arithmetic** – Basic math
Books They Read Students memorized stuff from: - Ovid's *Metamorphoses* (you can see this influence ALL over Shakespeare's work) - Virgil's *Aeneid* - Cicero's speeches - Seneca's tragedies - Comedies by Plautus and Terence
You Can See It In His Writing
Shakespeare's plays are FULL of evidence from his grammar school education:
- Classical references everywhere – Greek and Roman mythology, history, literature
- Ovid's influence – Stories from Metamorphoses pop up constantly
- Latin phrases – He drops Latin quotes and puns
- Rhetorical techniques – His speeches use classical persuasion methods
No College Though
Unlike some other playwrights of his time (like Christopher Marlowe), Shakespeare never went to university. Oxford and Cambridge were the only options, and you needed money or connections.
This actually made some people later question if Shakespeare really wrote his plays – how could a guy without a college degree be so brilliant? But most scholars agree his grammar school education plus his natural genius and love of reading totally explains his talent.
"Small Latin and Less Greek"?
Ben Jonson (another playwright) famously said Shakespeare had "small Latin and less Greek." People interpret this different ways: - Some think it's criticism of his education - Others say "small" by university standards was still pretty solid - Modern scholars think Shakespeare had a strong foundation in Latin that he kept building on his whole life