The Complete Works of William Shakespeare: All 37 plays, 160 sonnets and 5 poetry books (eBook)

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 37 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language. 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, 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. 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. He 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. 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. This collection features the following works: THE PLAYS A Midsummer Night’s Dream All’s Well that Ends Well Antony and Cleopatra As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet, Prince of Denmark Julius Caesar King Henry the Eighth King Henry the Fifth King Henry the Fourth, the First Part King Henry the Fourth, the Second Part King Henry the Sixth, the First Part King Henry the Sixth, the Second Part King Henry the Sixth, the Third Part King John King Lear King Richard the Second King Richard the Third Love’s Labour’s Lost Macbeth Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor Much Ado About Nothing Othello, the Moor of Venice Pericles, Prince of Tyre Romeo and Juliet The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night; or, What You Will The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Winter’s Tale SONNETS AND POEMS The Sonnets A Lover’s Complaint The Passionate Pilgrim The Phoenix and the Turtle The Rape of Lucrece Venus and Adonis