William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was a poet and playright who has traditionally been assumed to be an actor who lived in Stratford, England during the period 1564-1616. He predominantly wrote between 1585 and 1610, although the exact chronology of the authorship of his plays is not precisely known. Considering how well respected he is today, remarkably little is actually known of his life. This fact accounts for the many theories on who, other than the actor William Shakespeare, may have written the works. Shakespeare's reputation--as a poet and dramaturgist--has ebbed and flowed over the past five centuries.

His dramatic work is traditionally categorized in the following divisions:

• [Shakespearean tragedies]?
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Macbeth
  • [King Lear]?
  • Hamlet
  • Othello
  • [Titus Andronicus]?
  • [The Tragedy of Julius Caesar]?
  • [Antony and Cleopatra]?
  • Coriolanus?
  • [The History of Troilus and Cressida]?
  • [The Life of Timon of Athens]?
• [Shakespearean comedies]?
  • All's Well That Ends Well
  • [As You Like It]?
  • A Midsummer Night's Dream
  • [Much Ado About Nothing]?
  • [Measure for Measure]?
  • [The Tempest]?
  • [Taming of the Shrew]?
  • [The Merchant of Venice]?
  • [The Merry Wives of Windsor]?
  • [Love's Labor's Lost]?
  • [The Two Gentlemen of Verona]?
  • [Pericles Prince of Tyre]?
  • Cymbeline?
  • [The Winter's Tale]?
• [Shakespearean histories]?
  • Richard III
  • [Richard II]?
  • [Henry VI - 1]?
  • [Henry VI - 2]?
  • [Henry VI - 3]?
  • [Henry V]?
  • [Henry IV - 1]?
  • [Henry IV - 2]?
  • Henry VIII
  • [King John]?

His other literary works include:

• [Shakespearean Sonnets]? (See Sonnet)
• [Shakespearean Long Poetry]?

Some famous /quotations
See also his contemporaries Christopher Marlowe, Queen Elizabeth I, and Edward de Vere.

---

/How to upload Shakespeare to Wikipedia--a good cause

/Talk