more photos (4)

William Shakespeare’s Followers (41,337)

Add New
Videos

2 comments

Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide - Hamlet II: Crash Course Literature 204

1 comment

William Shakespeare

Born

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

Died

April 23, 1616

Genre

Theatre, Classics, Poetry

Influences

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

edit data

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.
...more

Combine Editions
William Shakespeare’s books

Average rating: 3.86 · 7,438,494 ratings · 161,894 reviews · 12,271 distinct works • Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet 3.74 avg rating — 2,457,520 ratings — published 1597 — 3819 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 — 886,643 ratings — published 1601 — 10331 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 3.90 avg rating — 834,402 ratings — published 1623 — 7258 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 3.95 avg rating — 512,563 ratings — published 1595 — 6685 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 — 368,014 ratings — published 1603 — 4505 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 — 235,361 ratings — published 1598 — 4165 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 — 207,448 ratings — published 1605 — 4115 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 — 198,821 ratings — published 1611 — 4847 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 3.70 avg rating — 193,868 ratings — published 1599 — 4723 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 3.97 avg rating — 174,783 ratings — published 1601 — 3794 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)

3.82 avg rating — 192,236 ratings

Shakespeare's Major Tetralogy (4 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

Michael Neill (Essay),

Paul Werstine (Editor),

Barbara A. Mowat (Editor)

3.81 avg rating — 118,989 ratings

Shakespeare's Minor Tetralogy (4 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

John Jowett (Editor)

3.82 avg rating — 73,247 ratings

Henry IV (2 books)
by

William Shakespeare

3.79 avg rating — 47,840 ratings

Henry VI (3 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

John D. Cox (Editor)

3.62 avg rating — 22,286 ratings

More series by William Shakespeare…

Some people love books. Some people fall in love. And some people love books about falling in love. Every month our team sorts through the new...

Polls

September 2018 Old School Poll

Hamlet by William Shakespeare 1603, 289 pages

106 votes, 31.5%

Utopia by Thomas More 1516, 135 pages

98 votes, 29.1%

Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin 1825, 240 pages

51 votes, 15.1%

Les Liaisons dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782, 448 pages

47 votes, 13.9%

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne 1759, 784 pages

35 votes, 10.4%

337 total votes

16 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Nomination	12	92	Nov 15, 2008 07:32PM
YA Book Council: The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry	49	256	Nov 19, 2008 01:09AM
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Voting	10	96	Nov 21, 2008 07:09AM
Romance and Paran...: Victoria Alexander	1	51	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	315	Dec 30, 2008 11:29PM

More…