William Shakespeare was a poet, dramatist, and actor. Shakespeare is possibly THE best known poet in the Western World and beyond. Few men have had such an influence on the literary world whilst being relatively unknown in terms of his personal life except that he was born and died on St George's Day.
His wife was named Anne Hathaway.
He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. 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 brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had 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 a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613 at age 49, 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 physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were actually written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories and these works remain regarded as some the best work produced in these genres even today. He then wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest works 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. In 1623, John Heminges and Henry Condell, two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare, published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognized as Shakespeare's. It was prefaced with a poem by Ben Jonson, in which Shakespeare is hailed, presciently, as "not of an age, but for all time".
In the 20th and 21st century, his work has been repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed, and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
A Lover's Complaint A Madrigal All The World's A Stage Aubade Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Bridal Song Carpe Diem Dirge Dirge Of The Three Queens Fairy Land I Fairy Land II Fairy Land III Fairy Land IV Fairy Land V Fear No More Fidele Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears From The Rape Of Lucrece From Venus And Adonis Helen's Soliloqy (All's Well That Ends Well) How Like A Winter Hath My Absence Been It Was A Lover And His Lass Juliet's Soliloquy Love Macbeth - Three witches casting a spell Now The Hungry Lion Roars Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile O Never Say That I Was False of Heart Orpheus With His Lute Made Trees Sigh No More Silvia Some Say That Ever ‘Gainst That Season Comes (Hamlet, Act I, Scene I) Song of the Witches: Double, double toil and trouble Sonnet 100: "Where art thou Muse that thou forget'st so long,..." Sonnet 101: "O truant Muse what shall be thy amends..." Sonnet 102: "My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming;..." Sonnet 103: "Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth,..." Sonnet 104: "To me, fair friend, you never can be old,..." Sonnet 105: "Let not my love be called idolatry,..." Sonnet 106: "When in the chronicle of wasted time..." Sonnet 107: "Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul..." Sonnet 108: "What's in the brain, that ink may character,..." Sonnet 109: "O! never say that I was false of heart,..." Sonnet 10: “For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any…” Sonnet 110: "Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there..." Sonnet 111: "O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide..." Sonnet 112: "Your love and pity doth the impression fill,..." Sonnet 113: "Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;... Sonnet 114: "Or whether doth my mind, being crowned with you,..." Full title list → A Lover's Complaint
A Madrigal
All The World's A Stage
Aubade
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind
Bridal Song
Carpe Diem
Dirge
Dirge Of The Three Queens
Fairy Land I
Fairy Land II
Fairy Land III
Fairy Land IV
Fairy Land V
Fear No More
Fidele
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears
From The Rape Of Lucrece
From Venus And Adonis
Helen's Soliloqy (All's Well That Ends Well)
How Like A Winter Hath My Absence Been
It Was A Lover And His Lass
Juliet's Soliloquy
Love
Macbeth - Three witches casting a spell
Now The Hungry Lion Roars
Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile
O Never Say That I Was False of Heart
Orpheus With His Lute Made Trees
Sigh No More
Silvia
Some Say That Ever ‘Gainst That Season Comes (Hamlet, Act I, Scene I)
Song of the Witches: Double, double toil and trouble
Sonnet 100: "Where art thou Muse that thou forget'st so long,..."
Sonnet 101: "O truant Muse what shall be thy amends..."
Sonnet 102: "My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming;..."
Sonnet 103: "Alack! what poverty my Muse brings forth,..."
Sonnet 104: "To me, fair friend, you never can be old,..."
Sonnet 105: "Let not my love be called idolatry,..."
Sonnet 106: "When in the chronicle of wasted time..."
Sonnet 107: "Not mine own fears, nor the prophetic soul..."
Sonnet 108: "What's in the brain, that ink may character,..."
Sonnet 109: "O! never say that I was false of heart,..."
Sonnet 10: “For shame deny that thou bear'st love to any…”
Sonnet 110: "Alas, 'tis true I have gone here and there..."
Sonnet 111: "O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide..."
Sonnet 112: "Your love and pity doth the impression fill,..."
Sonnet 113: "Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind;...
Sonnet 114: "Or whether doth my mind, being crowned with you,..."
Sonnet 115: "Those lines that I before have writ do lie,..."
Sonnet 116: 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds...'
Sonnet 117: "Accuse me thus: that I have scanted all,..."
Sonnet 118: "Like as, to make our appetite more keen,..."
Sonnet 119: "What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,..."
Sonnet 11: “As fast as thou shalt wane so fast thou grow'st…”
Sonnet 120: "That you were once unkind befriends me now,..."
Sonnet 121: "'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed,..."
Sonnet 122: "Thy gift, thy tables, are within my brain..."
Sonnet 123: "No, Time, thou shalt not boast that I do change:..."
Sonnet 124: "If my dear love were but the child of state,..."
Sonnet 125: "Were't aught to me I bore the canopy,..."
Sonnet 126: "O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power..."
Sonnet 127: "In the old age black was not counted fair,..."
Sonnet 128: "How oft when thou, my music, music play'st,..."
Sonnet 129: "Th' expense of spirit in a waste of shame..."
Sonnet 12:”When I do count the clock that tells the time…”
Sonnet 130: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun..."
Sonnet 131: "Thou art as tyrannous, so as thou art,..."
Sonnet 132: "Thine eyes I love, and they, as pitying me,..."
Sonnet 133: "Beshrew that heart that makes my heart to groan..."
Sonnet 134: "So now I have confessed that he is thine,..."
Sonnet 135: "Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,..."
Sonnet 136: "If thy soul check thee that I come so near,..."
Sonnet 137: "Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,..."
Sonnet 138: "When my love swears that she is made of truth,..."
Sonnet 139: "O! call not me to justify the wrong..."
Sonnet 13: “O that you were your self, but love you are…”
Sonnet 140: "Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press..."
Sonnet 141: "In faith I do not love thee with mine eyes,..."
Sonnet 142: "Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,..."
Sonnet 143: "Lo, as a careful housewife runs to catch..."
Sonnet 144: "Two loves I have of comfort and despair,..."
Sonnet 145: "Those lips that Love's own hand did make..."
Sonnet 146: "Poor soul, the centre of my sinful earth..."
Sonnet 147: "My love is as a fever longing still,..."
Sonnet 148: "O me! what eyes hath Love put in my head..."
Sonnet 149: "Canst thou, O cruel! say I love thee not,..."
Sonnet 14: “Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck…”
Sonnet 150: "O! from what power hast thou this powerful might,..."
Sonnet 151: "Love is too young to know what conscience is,..."
Sonnet 152: "In loving thee thou know'st I am foresworn,..."
Sonnet 153: "Cupid laid by his brand and fell asleep:..."
Sonnet 154: "The little Love-god lying once asleep,..."
Sonnet 15: "When I consider everything that grows..."
Sonnet 16: “But wherefore do not you a mightier way…”
Sonnet 17: “Who will believe my verse in time to come…”
Sonnet 18: Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day
Sonnet 19: "Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws..."
Sonnet 1: "From fairest creatures we desire increase"
Sonnet 20: “A woman's face with nature's own hand painted…”
Sonnet 21: “So is it not with me as with that muse…”
Sonnet 22: “My glass shall not persuade me I am old…”
Sonnet 23: “As an unperfect actor on the stage…”
Sonnet 24: “Mine eye hath played the painter and hath stelled…”
Sonnet 25: "Let those who are in favour with their stars..."
Sonnet 26: “Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage…”
Sonnet 27: “Weary with toil, I haste me to my bed…”
Sonnet 28: “How can I then return in happy plight…”
Sonnet 29: "When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes..."
Sonnet 2: "When forty winters shall besiege thy brow..."
Sonnet 30: "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought..."
Sonnet 31: “Thy bosom is endeared with all hearts…”
Sonnet 32: "If thou survive my well-contented day..."
Sonnet 33: "Full many a glorious morning have I seen..."
Sonnet 34: “Why didst thou promise such a beauteous day…”
Sonnet 35: “No more be grieved at that which thou hast done…”
Sonnet 36: “Let me confess that we two must be twain…”
Sonnet 37: “As a decrepit father takes delight…”
Sonnet 38: "How can my muse want subject to invent..."
Sonnet 39: “O how thy worth with manners may I sing…”
Sonnet 3: "Look in thy glass, and tell the face thou viewest..."
Sonnet 40: “Take all my loves, my love, yea take them all…”
Sonnet 41: “Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits…”
Sonnet 42: “That thou hast her it is not all my grief…”
Sonnet 43: “When most I wink then do mine eyes best see…”
Sonnet 44: “If the dull substance of my flesh were thought…”
Sonnet 45: “The other two, slight air, and purging fire…”
Sonnet 46: “Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war…”
Sonnet 47: “Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took…”
Sonnet 48: “How careful was I when I took my way…”
Sonnet 49: “Against that time (if ever that time come)…”
Sonnet 4: "Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend..."
Sonnet 50: "How heavy do I journey on the way..."
Sonnet 51: "Thus can my love excuse the slow offence..."
Sonnet 52: "So am I as the rich whose blessed key..."
Sonnet 53: "What is your substance, whereof are you made..."
Sonnet 54: "O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem..."
Sonnet 55: "Not marble, nor the gilded monuments..."
Sonnet 56: "Sweet love renew thy force, be it not said..."
Sonnet 57: "Being your slave what should I do but tend..."
Sonnet 58: "That god forbid, that made me first your slave..."
Sonnet 59: "If there be nothing new, but that which is..."
Sonnet 5: "Those hours, that with gentle work did frame..."
Sonnet 60: :Like as the waves make towards the pebbl'd shore..."
Sonnet 61: "Is it thy will, thy image should keep open..."
Sonnet 62: "Sin of self-love possesseth all mine eye..."
Sonnet 63: "Against my love shall be as I am now..."
Sonnet 64: "When I have seen by Time's fell hand defac'd..."
Sonnet 65: "Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea..."
Sonnet 66: "Tir'd with all these, for restful death I cry..."
Sonnet 67: "Ah wherefore with infection should he live..."
Sonnet 68: "Thus is his cheek the map of days outworn..."
Sonnet 69: "Those parts of thee that the world's eye doth view..."
Sonnet 6: “Then let not winter's ragged hand deface…”
Sonnet 70: “That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect…”
Sonnet 71: “No longer mourn for me when I am dead…”
Sonnet 72: “O lest the world should task you to recite…”
Sonnet 73: "That time of year thou mayst in me behold..."
Sonnet 74: "But be contented when that fell arrest..."
Sonnet 75: "So are you to my thoughts as food to life..."
Sonnet 76: "Why is my verse so barren of new pride,..."
Sonnet 77: "Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,..."
Sonnet 78: "So oft have I invoked thee for my Muse,..."
Sonnet 79: "Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid,..."
Sonnet 7: “Lo in the orient when the gracious light…”
Sonnet 80: "O! how I faint when I of you do write,..."
Sonnet 81: "Or shall I live your epitaph to make,..."
Sonnet 82: "I grant thou wert not married to my Muse,..."
Sonnet 83: "I never saw that you did painting need,...:
Sonnet 84: "Who is it that says most, which can say more,..."
Sonnet 85: "My tongue-tied Muse in manners holds her still,..."
Sonnet 86: "Was it the proud full sail of his great verse,"
Sonnet 87: "Farewell! thou art too dear for my possessing,..."
Sonnet 88: "When thou shalt be dispos'd to set me light,..."
Sonnet 89: "Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault,..."
Sonnet 8: "Music to hear, why hear'st thou music sadly?"
Sonnet 90: "Then hate me when thou wilt; if ever, now;..."
Sonnet 91: "Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,..."
Sonnet 92: "But do thy worst to steal thyself away,..."
Sonnet 93: "So shall I live, supposing thou art true,..."
Sonnet 94: "They that have power to hurt and will do none..."
Sonnet 95: "How sweet and lovely dost thou make the shame..."
Sonnet 96: "Some say thy fault is youth, some wantonness;..."
Sonnet 97: "How like a winter hath my absence been..."
Sonnet 98: "From you have I been absent in the spring... "
Sonnet 99: "The forward violet thus did I chide:..."
Sonnet 9: “Is it for fear to wet a widow's eye…”
Sonnets to the Sundry Notes of Music
Spring
Spring And Winter
St. Crispin’s Day Speech: from Henry V
Take, O Take Those Lips Away
The Blossom
The Canakin Clink Pub Song (From 'Othello')
The Dark Lady Sonnets (127 - 154)
The Fair Youth Sonnets (18 - 77, 87 - 126)
The Passionate Pilgrim
The Phoenix And The Turtle
The Procreation Sonnets (1 - 17)
The Quality Of Mercy
The Rape Of Lucrece
The Rival Poet Sonnets (78 - 86)
To be, or not to be: that is the question
To Me, Fair Friend, You Never Can Be Old
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Twelve O'Clock - Fairy time
Under The Greenwood Tree
Venus And Adonis
When That I Was And A Little Tiny Boy
William Shakespeare Epitaph
Winter
Witches' Chant (from Macbeth)
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