William Shakespeare

Born

Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England

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 · 4,710,586 ratings · 71,492 reviews · 5,364 distinct works · Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet 3.73 avg rating — 1,546,633 ratings — published 1595 — 1490 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) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 531,840 ratings — published 1602 — 1416 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 3.88 avg rating — 489,455 ratings — published 1606 — 1426 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 — 331,698 ratings — published 1595 — 4 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 — 241,014 ratings — published 1603 — 832 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 — 176,552 ratings — published 1598 — 644 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 — 137,280 ratings — published 1603 — 405 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 — 127,023 ratings — published 1593 — 540 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 — 118,356 ratings — published 1601 — 677 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 — 122,618 ratings — published 1611 — 106 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)
3.83 avg rating — 110,352 ratings

Shakespeare's Major Tetralogy (4 books)
by William Shakespeare, Barbara A. Mowat (Editor), Paul Werstine (Editor)
3.81 avg rating — 70,297 ratings

Shakespeare's Minor Tetralogy (4 books)
by William Shakespeare, John Jowett (Editor)
3.86 avg rating — 40,055 ratings

Henry IV (2 books)
by William Shakespeare
3.79 avg rating — 27,480 ratings

Henry VI (3 books)
by William Shakespeare, John D. Cox (Editor), Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor)
3.66 avg rating — 8,258 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

38759 likes

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

tags: do-wrong, love, trust, wrong

31161 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

21204 likes

See all William Shakespeare's quotes »

Polls

What do you recommend for April? There are some authors and then there are some themes.

Emily Brontë;Charlotte Brontë; Anne Brontë

2 votes 28.6%

Anne McCaffrey

1 vote 14.3%

Tom Clancy

1 vote 14.3%

Eudora Welty

1 vote 14.3%

A novel that has April, Showers, Flowers, Muddy or Rain in the title (essentially anything to do with April, Showers, Flowers, etc).

1 vote 14.3%

A novel that is set in Paris, as Paris is beautiful in the Springtime.

1 vote 14.3%

Jim Morrison's poetry

0 votes 0.0%

William Shakespeare

0 votes 0.0%

Henry James

0 votes 0.0%

A novel that somehow involves Easter (religious or secular) themes!

0 votes 0.0%

7 total votes

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