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Article: Shakespeare, William (1564–1616)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
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SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564
–
1616)
SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM
(1564
–
1616), English playwright, poet, and actor. Shakespeare is universally recognized as the foremost writer in the English language to date. The thirty-seven plays associated with his name, including the major tragedies
Hamlet, King Lear, Othello,
and
Macbeth,
and his romances and comedies,
Twelfth Night
and
A Midsummer Night's Dream
among them, have been translated into many languages and have crossed all kinds of cultural divide. His poetry, in particular his intricately woven and fiercely passionate love sonnets, have stirred the senses of reader and critic alike for generations past and will do so for ...