more photos (3)

William Shakespeare’s Followers (46,951)

Add New
Videos

2 comments

Add a comment

William Shakespeare

Born

in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

April 03, 1564

Died

April 23, 1616

Website

https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/

Genre

Theatre, Classics, Poetry

Influences

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

edit data

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is 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 extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, W William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is 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 extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time". ...more

Combine Editions
William Shakespeare’s books

Average rating: 3.86 · 8,525,852 ratings · 228,928 reviews · 27,608 distinct works • Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine (Editor), Barbara A. Mowat (Editor) 3.74 avg rating — 2,809,545 ratings — published 1590 — 6346 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 4.03 avg rating — 1,044,193 ratings — published 1601 — 5509 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 by William Shakespeare, Carmen Kahn (Contributor), Jack Armstrong (Contributor) 3.89 avg rating — 1,014,331 ratings — published 1623 — 5003 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 — 576,537 ratings — published 1595 — 5451 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 3.89 avg rating — 435,112 ratings — published 1603 — 141 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 4.06 avg rating — 257,862 ratings — published 1598 — 33 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 3.91 avg rating — 236,654 ratings — published 1605 — 4015 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 3.78 avg rating — 226,506 ratings — published 1611 — 3997 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
	Julius Caesar 3.71 avg rating — 218,616 ratings — published 1599 — 47 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 — 193,920 ratings — published 1623 — 3129 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

The Signet Classic Shakespeare (1 book)
by

William Shakespeare,

Paul Werstine (Editor),

Gail Kern Paster (Contributor),

Henry Irving (Arrangement),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor),

Henry Norman Hudson (Introduction & Notes),

Frederick S. Boas (Introduction & Notes),

F.H. Mares (Editor),

more…
4.06 avg rating — 257,856 ratings

The Signet Classic Shakespeare (1 book)
by

William Shakespeare,

Paul Werstine (Editor),

Gail Kern Paster (Contributor),

Henry Irving (Arrangement),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor),

Henry Norman Hudson (Introduction & Notes),

Frederick S. Boas (Introduction & Notes),

F.H. Mares (Editor),

more…
4.06 avg rating — 257,856 ratings

The Signet Classic Shakespeare (1 book)
by

William Shakespeare,

Paul Werstine (Editor),

Gail Kern Paster (Contributor),

Henry Irving (Arrangement),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor),

Henry Norman Hudson (Introduction & Notes),

Frederick S. Boas (Introduction & Notes),

F.H. Mares (Editor),

more…
4.06 avg rating — 257,856 ratings

The Signet Classic Shakespeare (1 book)
by

William Shakespeare,

Paul Werstine (Editor),

Gail Kern Paster (Contributor),

Henry Irving (Arrangement),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor),

Henry Norman Hudson (Introduction & Notes),

Frederick S. Boas (Introduction & Notes),

F.H. Mares (Editor),

more…
4.06 avg rating — 257,856 ratings

The Signet Classic Shakespeare (1 book)
by

William Shakespeare,

Paul Werstine (Editor),

Gail Kern Paster (Contributor),

Henry Irving (Arrangement),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor),

Henry Norman Hudson (Introduction & Notes),

Frederick S. Boas (Introduction & Notes),

F.H. Mares (Editor),

more…
4.06 avg rating — 257,856 ratings

More series by William Shakespeare…

Imagine a Shakespearean retelling of The Godfather set in a small Southern town, and you’ll have an idea about what to expect in Shawn Andre...

Polls

April 2017 Revisit the Shelf Reread

Emma by Jane Austen, 474 pages, 1815

49 votes, 14.8%

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, 329 pages, 1856

43 votes, 13.0%

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, 464 pages, 1847

38 votes, 11.4%

East of Eden by John Steinbeck, 601 pages, 1952

25 votes, 7.5%

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, 121 pages, 1898

23 votes, 6.9%

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, 225 pages, 1876

22 votes, 6.6%

Dune by Frank Herbert, 604 pages, 1965

20 votes, 6.0%

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, 326 pages, 1929

17 votes, 5.1%

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy, 204 pages, 1905

15 votes, 4.5%

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, 489 pages, 1848

14 votes, 4.2%

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, 518 pages, 1891

13 votes, 3.9%

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, 360 pages, 1909

13 votes, 3.9%

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, 311 pages, 1882

12 votes, 3.6%

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, 213 pages, 1930

10 votes, 3.0%

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, 974 pages, 1849

9 votes, 2.7%

King Lear by William Shakespeare, 338 pages, 1603

9 votes, 2.7%

332 total votes

2 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Nomination	12	95	Nov 15, 2008 07:32PM
YA Book Council: The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry	49	275	Nov 19, 2008 01:09AM
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Voting	10	102	Nov 21, 2008 07:09AM
Romance and Paran...: Victoria Alexander	1	52	Nov 25, 2008 08:21AM
Romance and Paran...: Julia London	1	18	Dec 07, 2008 05:39PM
The Book Challenge: Samantha's 2008 Book Challenge	35	329	Dec 30, 2008 11:29PM

More…