Writing a biography of William Shakespeare would seem to be an exercise in futility, not least because, aside from the plays and sonnets themselves, there’s very little written record of the Bard himself. His name, spelled in a variety of ways—ranging from “Shakspere” to “Shaxspeare” to “Shackespere”—comes up from time to time in the Elizabethan record, but the documents are often trivial and, at worst, unreliable. But, amidst all the speculation, the question remains: who was he?

To his credit, in writing Will in the World, Stephen Greenblatt avoids the controversy surrounding Shakespeare and instead focuses on the plays and sonnets themselves to contruct a biography that paints the Bard as an ordinary man with acute observation skills. And that’s really what makes Shakespeare such a fascinating study: how did an ordinary man, with a rudimentary (by Elizabethan standards) education come to write some of the most beautiful and haunting poetry in the English language?

Will in the World is largely speculative, with Greenblatt imagining—not unreasonably—how Shakespeare might’ve lived his life. The book is several things at once: a love letter to the greatest poet in the English language, an analysis of Shakespeare’s works, and a crash-course on the workings of Elizabethan society. Things get dull at times, especially during the first two chapters—even Greenblatt doesn’t seem particularly interested in Shakespeare’s life prior to his arrival in London, England—but all that’s forgotten when Shakespeare begins writing. Using passages from plays and sonnets, as well as the political and religious strife that swept England during Shakespeare’s lifetime, Greenblatt traces the Bard’s rise in theater (which was a relatively new phenomenon when Shakespeare entered the stage), which climaxed when Hamlet was written—the play by which Shakespeare, after much experimentation, mastered the soliloquy.

Greenblatt’s tone, considering his obvious knowledge of Shakespeare’s works, is surprisingly restrained—he’s in awe of what Shakespeare managed to accomplish, but he doesn’t come off as a groupie seeking only to heap praise on his literary hero. Instead, Shakespeare comes off, not as a genius, but as an everyday man who, like all artists, took bits and pieces of his own life experiences to shape his plays. And therein lies Shakespeare’s true genius: the man who mastered the English language, who invented new words, and forever changed theater was sly, observant, and witty—but perfectly ordinary.

(Be sure to check out J.S. Peyton’s post on Will in the World.)