more photos (3)

William Shakespeare’s Followers (47,975)

Add New
Videos

2 comments

Add a comment

William Shakespeare

Born

in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

February 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, R ...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 · 8,715,791 ratings · 243,058 reviews · 23,423 distinct works • Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine (Editor), Barbara A. Mowat (Editor) 3.74 avg rating — 2,865,751 ratings — published 1590 — 150 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 — 1,076,830 ratings — published 1601 — 422 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 — 1,043,580 ratings — published 1623 — 7619 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 — 587,486 ratings — published 1595 — 5442 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 — 444,821 ratings — published 1603 — 4643 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 — 261,737 ratings — published 1598 — 67 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 — 241,597 ratings — published 1605 — 2496 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 — 231,721 ratings — published 1611 — 3977 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 — 223,612 ratings — published 1599 — 45 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 — 197,123 ratings — published 1623 — 3113 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,

Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

John D. Cox (Editor)

3.81 avg rating — 225,206 ratings

Oxford Student Texts (1 book)
by

William Shakespeare,

Katherine Duncan-Jones (Editor)

4.25 avg rating — 113,739 ratings

Shakespeare's Minor Tetralogy (4 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

John Jowett (Editor)

3.82 avg rating — 86,586 ratings

Henry IV (2 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

David Bevington (Editor),

David Scott Kastan (Editor)

3.79 avg rating — 55,776 ratings

Henry VI (3 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

John D. Cox (Editor)

3.62 avg rating — 26,871 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

February 2016 Old School Classic Poll

1853, Villette by Charlotte Brontë, 573 pages

24 votes, 16.4%

1896, The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, 160 pages

22 votes, 15.1%

1820, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, 108 pages

17 votes, 11.6%

1516, Utopia by Thomas More, 135 pages

17 votes, 11.6%

1869, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 667 pages

15 votes, 10.3%

1603, Othello by William Shakespeare, 314 pages

14 votes, 9.6%

1794, The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe, 654 pages

10 votes, 6.8%

1678, The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan, 324 pages

7 votes, 4.8%

1796, The Monk by Matthew Gregory Lewis, 386 pages

7 votes, 4.8%

1764, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole, 125 pages

4 votes, 2.7%

1853, Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell, 432 pages

4 votes, 2.7%

1896, The Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett, 224 pages

2 votes, 1.4%

1788, Emmeline by Charlotte Turner Smith, 520 pages

2 votes, 1.4%

1832, Indiana by George Sand, 278 pages

1 vote, 0.7%

146 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Nomination	12	97	Nov 15, 2008 07:32PM
YA Book Council: The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry	49	276	Nov 19, 2008 01:09AM
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Voting	10	103	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	337	Dec 30, 2008 11:29PM

More…