William Shakespeare

Born

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, The United Kingdom

Died

April 23, 1616

Website

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

Genre

Theatre, Historical Fiction, Poetry

Influences

Ovid, Homer, Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day.

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamn William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day.

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

According to historians, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout the span of his life. Shakespeare's writing average was 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. There have been plays and sonnets attributed to Shakespeare that were not authentically written by the great master of language and literature.
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Combine Editions
William Shakespeare's Books

Average rating: 3.85 · 4,626,400 ratings · 69,560 reviews · 5,485 distinct works · Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet 3.73 avg rating — 1,518,749 ratings — published 1595 — 1412 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Richard Andrews (Editor), Rex Gibson (Editor) 3.99 avg rating — 522,041 ratings — published 1602 — 1376 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Macbeth 3.87 avg rating — 479,732 ratings — published 1606 — 1346 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Midsummer Night's Dream 3.94 avg rating — 325,394 ratings — published 1595 — 1073 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Othello 3.87 avg rating — 237,403 ratings — published 1603 — 809 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat (Editor), Paul Werstine (Editor) 4.06 avg rating — 174,676 ratings — published 1598 — 642 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	King Lear 3.89 avg rating — 135,484 ratings — published 1603 — 393 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Taming of the Shrew 3.82 avg rating — 125,448 ratings — published 1593 — 528 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Twelfth Night 3.96 avg rating — 115,213 ratings — published 1601 — 655 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Tempest 3.79 avg rating — 119,793 ratings — published 1611 — 686 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by William Shakespeare…

Series by William Shakespeare

Wars of the Roses (8 books)
by William Shakespeare, John D. Cox (Editor), Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor)
3.84 avg rating — 98,620 ratings

Shakespeare's Major Tetralogy (4 books)
by William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat (Editor), Paul Werstine (Editor)
3.82 avg rating — 59,427 ratings

Shakespeare's Minor Tetralogy (4 books)
by William Shakespeare, John Jowett (Editor)
3.86 avg rating — 39,193 ratings

Henry IV (2 books)
by William Shakespeare
3.79 avg rating — 26,873 ratings

Henry VI (3 books)
by William Shakespeare, John D. Cox (Editor), Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor)
3.66 avg rating — 8,013 ratings

More series by William Shakespeare…

Quotes by William Shakespeare

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It

tags: wisdom

38387 likes

“Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.”
― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

tags: do-wrong, love, trust, wrong

30819 likes

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

tags: love

21040 likes

See all William Shakespeare's quotes »

Polls

Favorite classic author -

Jane Austen

446 votes, 25.0%

William Shakespeare

246 votes, 13.8%

Charles Dickens

197 votes, 11.1%

George Orwell

172 votes, 9.7%

Charlotte Brontë

126 votes, 7.1%

Other {Please specify in comment}

118 votes, 6.6%

J.D. Salinger

113 votes, 6.3%

Harper Lee

103 votes, 5.8%

Emily Brontë

79 votes, 4.4%

Louisa May Alcott

75 votes, 4.2%

Homer

70 votes, 3.9%

Nathaniel Hawthorne

37 votes, 2.1%

1782 total votes

111 comments

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