William Shakespeare

Author profile

born

March 31, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, The United Kingdom

died

April 23, 1616

gender

male

website

http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/

genre

Literature & Fiction, Poetry

About this author

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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. 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, wri...more 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. 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.
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Books by William Shakespeare

Average rating: 3.81 · 1,710,185 ratings · 28,011 reviews · 2,022 distinct works

	Romeo and Juliet 3.73 avg rating — 696,010 ratings — published 1595 — 329 editions	My rating:
	Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Richard Andrews (Editor), Rex Gibson (Editor) 3.99 avg rating — 162,906 ratings — published 1602 — 770 editions	My rating:
	Macbeth 3.83 avg rating — 145,888 ratings — published 1606 — 78 editions	My rating:
	A Midsummer Night's Dream 3.92 avg rating — 108,795 ratings — published 1595 — 249 editions	My rating:
	Othello 3.85 avg rating — 81,860 ratings — published 1622 — 401 editions	My rating:
	Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat (Editor), Paul Werstine (Editor) 4.04 avg rating — 57,155 ratings — published 1599 — 278 editions	My rating:
	King Lear 3.85 avg rating — 50,833 ratings — published 1603 — 408 editions	My rating:
	The Taming of the Shrew 3.81 avg rating — 47,638 ratings — published 1590 — 234 editions	My rating:
	Twelfth Night 3.94 avg rating — 42,798 ratings — published 1602 — 371 editions	My rating:
	Julius Caesar 3.55 avg rating — 49,167 ratings — published 1623 — 464 editions	My rating:

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Series by William Shakespeare

Evans Shakespeare Editions (1 book)
by William Shakespeare, Nina Levine (Editor)

3.81 avg rating — 27 ratings

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

20,708 people liked it

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

tags: love-trust-wrong-do-wrong

13,723 people liked it

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.”
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

tags: love

10,039 people liked it

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