more photos (3)

William Shakespeare’s Followers (45,526)

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 · 8,273,875 ratings · 211,980 reviews · 21,361 distinct works • Similar authors

	Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine (Editor), Barbara A. Mowat (Editor) 3.74 avg rating — 2,732,859 ratings — published 1597 — 10024 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 — 1,006,847 ratings — published 1601	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 — 973,747 ratings — published 1623 — 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
	A Midsummer Night’s Dream 3.94 avg rating — 561,718 ratings — published 1595 — 5459 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 — 421,551 ratings — published 1603 — 140 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 — 252,665 ratings — published 1598 — 3218 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 — 229,538 ratings — published 1605 — 3 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 — 219,589 ratings — published 1611 — 3974 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 — 213,088 ratings — published 1599 — 4256 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 — 190,101 ratings — published 1602 — 3063 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 — 252,657 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 — 252,657 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 — 252,657 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 — 252,657 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 — 252,657 ratings

More series by William Shakespeare…

Here at Goodreads World Headquarters, we like to think that all of our book roundups and recommendation articles are fun. And they are!...

Polls

October 2022 Revisit the Shelf Poll

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (1929) 296 pp., last read July 2018

60 votes, 23.3%

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898), 121 pages, last read Nov 2013

48 votes, 18.7%

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (1969) 289 pp., last read Sept. 2017

43 votes, 16.7%

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier (1935), pp. 302, last read April 2013

40 votes, 15.6%

The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (1596) 337 pp., (I bet there are a lot of notes in this edition) last read Sept. 2016.

26 votes, 10.1%

Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen (1937), 401 pages, last read April 2012

21 votes, 8.2%

The Moonstone (1868), 528 pp. Last read May 2015.
Nominated by Kimberly: Sue, Sarah, Jen, Tara, (5)

19 votes, 7.4%

257 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
European Royalty: Dec. 1 - Jan. 1 - Nomination	12	93	Nov 15, 2008 07:32PM
YA Book Council: The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry	49	271	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	326	Dec 30, 2008 11:29PM