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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

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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 · 7,960,505 ratings · 192,936 reviews · 22,565 distinct works • Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet 3.74 avg rating — 2,635,596 ratings — published 1597 — 9934 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 4.02 avg rating — 968,554 ratings — published 1601 — 8627 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: Moment by Moment by William Shakespeare, Carmen Kahn (Contributor), Jack Armstrong (Contributor) 3.89 avg rating — 914,728 ratings — published 1606 — 7608 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 — 546,429 ratings — published 1595 — 54 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 — 397,035 ratings — published 1603 — 4607 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 — 246,664 ratings — published 1598 — 1838 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 — 221,811 ratings — published 1605 — 525 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 — 212,501 ratings — published 1611 — 3852 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 — 206,512 ratings — published 1599 — 54 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 — 184,327 ratings — published 1601 — 2898 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 — 204,940 ratings

Shakespeare's Minor Tetralogy (4 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

John Jowett (Editor)

3.82 avg rating — 78,348 ratings

Shakespeare Made Easy (11 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

Alan Durband (Adapter)

3.85 avg rating — 50,516 ratings

Henry IV (2 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

David Bevington (Editor),

David Scott Kastan (Editor)

3.79 avg rating — 50,961 ratings

Henry VI (3 books)
by

William Shakespeare,

Eric Rasmussen (Goodreads Author) (Editor),

John D. Cox (Editor)

3.61 avg rating — 23,846 ratings

More series by William Shakespeare…

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Polls

April 2017 Revisit the Shelf Reread

Emma by Jane Austen, 474 pages, 1815

50 votes, 14.8%

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43 votes, 12.8%

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39 votes, 11.6%

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25 votes, 7.4%

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23 votes, 6.8%

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22 votes, 6.5%

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21 votes, 6.2%

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18 votes, 5.3%

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy, 204 pages, 1905

15 votes, 4.5%

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

14 votes, 4.2%

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

14 votes, 4.2%

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%

337 total votes

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