The Grave of William Shakespeare, Statford-upon-Avon

Shakespeare’s grave is in Holy Trinity Church, in Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616, at the age of 52.

Inscription

GOOD FRIEND FOR JESUS' SAKE FORBEAR,
TO DIG THE DUST ENCLOSED HERE,
BLESSED BE THE MAN THAT SPARES THESE STONES,
AND CURSED BE HE THAT MOVES MY BONES.

THE GRAVE
OF THE POET
WILLIAM
SHAKESPEARE
1564-1616

The inscription is not an epitaph but a warning against the common practice of recycling graves after ten years to allow for new burials.

Shakespeare made no attempt to preserve his stage works for posterity, believing that plays were not "literature" worthy of print. Two of Shakespeare's longtime colleagues compiled Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (1623), commonly known as the First Folio. It includes 18 previously unpublished plays (including Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, and The Tempest) that might otherwise have been lost. 

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