Shakespeare's Works

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A Shakespeare Timeline | Will's Quotes o' the Day

(picture credit: Folger Shakespeare Library)

First Folio Cover William Shakespeare, in terms of his life and his body of work, is the most written-about author in the history of Western civilization. His canon includes 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 epic narrative poems. The First Folio (cover shown at left) was published posthumously in 1623 by two of Shakespeare's acting companions, John Heminges and Henry Condell. Ever since then, the works of Shakespeare have been studied, analyzed, and enjoyed as some of the finest masterpieces of the English language.

It is all the more wondrous when one can study the works and see Shakespeare developing as a playwright right there upon the pages. Love's Labours Lost and the early comedies are the work of a gifted and clever author. Perhaps such plays alone would have earned him literary fame in later days. The grandeur of a Hamlet or King Lear, however, is the work of a master who learned from his own writing and long practice.

In his time, Shakespeare was the most popular playwright of London. As centuries have passed, his genius eclipses all others of his age; Jonson, Marlowe, Kyd, Greene, Dekker, Heywood—none approach the craft or the humanity of character that marks the Bard's work. He took the art of dramatic verse and honed it to perfection. He created the most vivid characters of the Elizabethan stage. His usage of language, both lofty and low, shows a remarkable wit and subtlety. Most importantly, his themes are so universal that they transcend generations to stir the imaginations of audiences everywhere to this day.

His plays generally fall into four categories:

  1. Pre-1594 (Richard III, The Comedy of Errors)
  2. 1594–1600 (Henry V, Midsummer Night's Dream)
  3. 1600–1608 (Macbeth, King Lear)
  4. Post-1608 (Cymbeline, The Tempest)

The first period has its roots in Roman and medieval drama—the construction of the plays, while good, is obvious and shows the author's hand more brusquely than the later works. The earliest Shakespeare also owes a debt to Christopher Marlowe, whose writing probably gave much inspiration at the onset of the Bard's career.

The second period showed more growth in style, and the construction becoming less labored. The histories of this period are Shakespeare's best, portraying the lives of kings and royalty in most human terms. He also begins the interweaving of comedy and tragedy, which would become one of his stylistic signatures. His comedies mature in this period as well, portraying a greater characterization in their subjects.

The third period marks the great tragedies, and the principal works which would earn the Bard his fame in later centuries. His tragic figures rival those of Sophocles, and might well have walked off the Greek stage straight onto the Elizabethan. Shakespeare is at his best in these tragedies. The comedies of this period, however, show Shakespeare at a literary crossroads—moody and without the clear comic resolution of previous comedies. Hence, the term "problem plays" to describe them.

The fourth period encompasses romantic tragicomedy. Shakespeare at the end of his career seemed preoccupied with themes of redemption. The writing is more serious yet more lyrical, and the plays show Shakespeare at his most symbolic. It is argued between scholars whether this period owed more to Shakespeare's maturity as a playwright or merely signified a changing trend in Elizabethan theatre at the time.

Shakespeare on the Web

Collected Works of Shakespeare:
Matty Farrow's Shakespearean works page
Internet Shakespeare: Draft Early Texts:
Michael Best presents records of the original quarto and folio versions, available to scholars, teachers, and the general public for educational purposes.
Internet Shakespeare Editions—Home Page:
The aim of the Internet Shakespeare Editions is to make scholarly, fully annotated texts of Shakespeare's plays available in a form native to the medium of the Internet.
Mr. Shakespeare and the Internet:
Terry Gray brings together all the links to the collected and individual works by Shakespeare available on the Internet. Most are to web editions, but gopher, ftp, and telnet accessible resources have also been linked.
The Oxford Shakespeare:
The 1914 Oxford edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare ranks among the most authoritative published this century. Bartleby.com presents this edition online in its entirety. Edited by W. J. Craig.
Project Gutenburg:
The Project Gutenberg Philosophy is to make information, books and other materials available to the general public in forms a vast majority of the computers, programs and people can easily read, use, quote, and search.
Shakespeare's History Plays—A Student's Overview:
A brief digest of the main themes of the history plays, written and designed for the ease of the new reader
The Works of William Shakespeare at MIT:
The Web's first edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. This site has offered Shakespeare's plays and poetry to the Internet community since 1993.

Literary Criticism

A. C. Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy:
A. C. Bradley's classic work goes online thanks to the Shakespeare Navigators' Web site. The layout makes it somewhat problematic to read online, but it is the complete book, which makes it a valuable resource.
About.com—Shakespeare Criticism:
The Internet can be a wonderful research tool for students and scholars alike, and this comprehensive list of the very best online essays and articles on Shakespeare's comedies, histories, and tragedies will surely be a service to everyone.
Internet Public Library:
A collection of critical, biographical, and other sites devoted to Shakespeare.
Samuel Johnson's "Shakespeare" Preface:
The preface to Samuel Johnson's famous 1765 work on Shakespeare.
Shake Sphere:
Mike Cummings, a freelance writer based in Pennsylvania, presents a number of essays and analyses that explore the works of Shakespeare.
Shakespeare and his Critics:
Thomas Larque's collection of 18th and 19th century Shakespearean criticism.
Shakespeare Association of America (SAA):
The Shakespeare Association of America (SAA) is a non-profit, academic organization devoted to the study of William Shakespeare and his plays and poems, the cultural and theatrical milieu in which he lived and worked, and the various roles he has played in both Anglo-American and world culture ever since.
Shakespeare Criticism:
Terry Gray's largest section on the site; Terry says, "Of all the original pages comprising Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet, this page has grown the most. It has now been broken into several separate pages to accommodate the volume."
Shakespeare in Connotations:
A listing Shakespeare-dedicated articles from Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate, including links to online articles.
Shakespeare Online:
Here you will find many resources to help you in the study of Shakespeare and his works. Shakespeare Online has something to offer everyone, whether you are a teacher, a student, or a Shakespeare enthusiast in general.
University of Basel, Switzerland:
The University of Basel English Department has pages dedicated to Shakespeare criticism from the 16th to early 20th centuries as well as a recent criticism page.
UTEL: Characters of Shakespear's Plays, by William Hazlitt (1817):
The University of Toronto presents Hazlitt's original 19th century work on the Bard's work. The online version was scanned directly from a primary source.
World Shakespeare Bibliography:
Provides over 83,000 annotated entries for all important books, articles, book reviews, dissertations, theatrical productions and their reviews, audiovisual and electronic media related to Shakespeare and published or produced between 1969 and 2002.

Journals

ELH—Early Literary History Journal:
Since 1934, ELH has consistently published superior studies that interpret the conditions affecting major works in English and American literature. Edited by Ronald Paulson.
Early Modern Literary Studies Journal:
Early Modern Literary Studies is a refereed journal serving as a formal arena for scholarly discussion and as an academic resource for researchers in the area. Articles in EMLS examine English literature, literary culture, and language during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Shakespeare and the Classroom:
Shakespeare and the Classroom is a publication jointly sponsored by Ohio Northern University and Shakespeare's Globe Centre (USA). The journal is published twice a year and includes widely ranging topics of interest to Shakespeare teachers, scholars, and theatre practitioners.
Shakespeare Magazine:
A convergence of in-depth and up-to-the-minute information from Shakespeare scholars, teachers, and theatre professionals.
Shakespeare Quarterly:
Founded in 1950 by the Shakespeare Association of America, Shakespeare Quarterly is a refereed journal committed to publishing articles in the vanguard of Shakespeare studies.
SHAKSPER: The Global Electronic Shakespeare Conference:
SHAKSPER is the international electronic conference for Shakespearean researchers, instructors, students, and those who share their academic interests and concerns.