Scholars and historians cannot be sure exactly when Shakespeare began writing, or why he did, however, it is known that his first offered work to the company he belonged to, 'The Queen's Men', was gratefully received. This was probably Henry V1 part 3! I say, probably, because many believe his first work to be, 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', a work offered up in 1598! Certainly the clergyman, Francis Meres, writing in that year, suggests several of Shakespeare's works in his 'Palladis Tamia', quoting at least 6 'comedies', including 'Love's Labour's Won'! Several of his plays are known to have been 'collaborations', that is, not written by one hand alone. He himself is known to have collaborated in others works, so. It is to be understood, that others helped write his plays too. Therefore, learning to write, 'collaboratedly', may have been the way Shakespeare was led into the ways of writing plays. Certainly, the demand for plays was almost voracious! From 1588 to 1596, eight short years, 4000 plays were written for the London stage, meaning over a play a day was being written! Shakespeare was probably 'the tip of the iceberg', many hundreds of playwrights were writing furiously every day just to feed Londoners ever growing desire for culture. Among his first works offered to the 'Queen's Men' are 'Henry V1 Part 3', 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', 'The Taming of the Shrew', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'The Comedy of Errors'. All written before 1590.
