William Shakespeare wrote many of his famous poems because the plague forced London theaters to close.

Between 1592 and 1594, London suffered a major outbreak of the bubonic plague. The government ordered all theaters to close whenever more than 30 people died of the disease in a single week. Over 10,000 people in London died during this two-year period.Shakespeare earned his living from ticket sales at the theater. When the theaters closed, he lost his main source of income. He began writing long poems to attract the attention of rich nobles who could pay him for his work.In 1593, he published a poem called 'Venus and Adonis'. He dedicated it to the Earl of Southampton, a wealthy man who became his patron. The poem was very popular and was reprinted 16 times by the year 1640.Shakespeare also wrote 'The Rape of Lucrece' in 1594 for the same patron. Experts believe he wrote most of his 154 sonnets during these theater closures as well. At that time, people considered poetry a more respectable art form than writing plays for the public.Writing these poems helped Shakespeare survive financially until the plague ended. Once the theaters reopened, he returned to writing plays for the stage.