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William Shakespeare
(1564-1616)
British poet and playwright.
Author's life and works
Long introduction to life and work from British Writers
Macbeth
Macbeth
Study guide from KnowledgeNotes™ Student Guides, 2002.
William Shakespeare: The Tragedies, Chapter 8: Macbeth
By Paul A. Jorgensen, 1999.
Romeo and Juliet
Full text of Romeo and Juliet
"Overview of Romeo and Juliet" from Drama for Students
"Critical Essay on ‘Romeo and Juliet’" by Lois Kerschen from Drama for Students, 2005.
"An Online Course" on Romeo and Juliet by Michael Best, University of Victoria, Canada.
The Tempest
Complete text of The Tempest
“Overview: The Tempest, by William Shakespeare”
A Midsummer Night´s Dream
Complete text of A Midsummer Night’s Dream
“Overview: A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare”
Particular poems
"Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee"
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Full Text of poem from Representative Poetry Online
"Sonnet 18" from Poetry for Students, 1997.
Sonnet 55: "Not marble"
Not marble, nor the gilded monuments
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory.
'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity
Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
Even in the eyes of all posterity
That wear this world out to the ending doom.
So, till the judgment that yourself arise,
You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.
”Overview: "Sonnet 55", by William Shakespeare”
Sonnet 130: “My mistress' eyes”
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Full Text of poem from Representative Poetry Online
"Sonnet 130" from
Poetry for Students, 1997
Sonnet 144: "two loves I have"
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman colour'd ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turn'd fiend
Suspect I may, but not directly tell;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
Videos of other poets reading Shakespeare's sonnets
Sonnet 29 read by Patience Agbabi
Sonnet 73 read by Charles Wright
Sonnet 129 read by Patience Agbabi
Shakespeare links
Stratford upon Avon internet portal
shakespeare-online by Amanda Mabillard, B.A. (About Inc)
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet
The Virtual Globe Theatre by College of the Holy Cross, Worcester
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