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The Complete Works
For centuries, Shakespeare’s wit, immediacy of action, lively plots, and subtle characterisations have made him infinitely accessible and continually captivating. And here, in the distinguished series of Gramercy Classics, William Shakespeare: The Complete Works is presented for those who want to own everything the great master has written.
Complete with many rare, beautifully evocative illustrations, in an attractive, easy-to-read format, this spendid volume will bring Shakespeare's most popular and enduring plays as close as a nearby bookshelf.
Now, between these two covers, readers may find such comedic treasures as the delightful verbal sparring between Petruchio and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew; the Fairy Queen Titania's stormy relationship with Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and the determined avoidance of love by the madcap lovers Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing ln the history plays are found such gems as the malevolent brilliance of the scheming Richard III; the rousing spectacle of Henry V leading his victorious army into France; and wayward young Prince Hal’s hilarious encounters with the farcical figure of Falstaff in Henry IV, First Part.)
But it is only in the tragedies that Shakespeare brings to bear the full force of his dramatic instinct and penetrating psychological insight, revealing to the reader how man, in his infinitely complex existence, struggles between the opposing forces of good and evil. Here is Hamlet, the heroic Dane, unable to revenge his father’s murder, riddled by indecision and self-doubt; Macbeth, the king whose vaulting ambition leads him to ruin; King Lear, who is blinded by appearances and, consequently, blind to reality; and Romeo and Juliet, the “star-cross’d lovers” led into a tangled web of family antagonisms, murder, and eventual suicide. Here, too, are Shakespeare's lyrical and lovely sonnets, including the superb “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”
This elegant edition of William Shakespeare: The Complete Works will be treasured by anyone who loves great literature, exciting drama and incomparable poetry.
Complete with many rare, beautifully evocative illustrations, in an attractive, easy-to-read format, this spendid volume will bring Shakespeare's most popular and enduring plays as close as a nearby bookshelf.
Now, between these two covers, readers may find such comedic treasures as the delightful verbal sparring between Petruchio and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew; the Fairy Queen Titania's stormy relationship with Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and the determined avoidance of love by the madcap lovers Beatrice and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing ln the history plays are found such gems as the malevolent brilliance of the scheming Richard III; the rousing spectacle of Henry V leading his victorious army into France; and wayward young Prince Hal’s hilarious encounters with the farcical figure of Falstaff in Henry IV, First Part.)
But it is only in the tragedies that Shakespeare brings to bear the full force of his dramatic instinct and penetrating psychological insight, revealing to the reader how man, in his infinitely complex existence, struggles between the opposing forces of good and evil. Here is Hamlet, the heroic Dane, unable to revenge his father’s murder, riddled by indecision and self-doubt; Macbeth, the king whose vaulting ambition leads him to ruin; King Lear, who is blinded by appearances and, consequently, blind to reality; and Romeo and Juliet, the “star-cross’d lovers” led into a tangled web of family antagonisms, murder, and eventual suicide. Here, too, are Shakespeare's lyrical and lovely sonnets, including the superb “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?”
This elegant edition of William Shakespeare: The Complete Works will be treasured by anyone who loves great literature, exciting drama and incomparable poetry.
1229 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1623
About the author
William Shakespeare
18k books48.5k followersWilliam Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is 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 extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
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July 25, 2020
Ya'll already knew this was coming because I did the same thing for Oscar but these compilations of my reviews are so damn satisfying to me.
The Comedies
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Love’s Labour’s Lost
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Nights’ Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Tragedies
• Coriolanus
• Titus Andronicus
• Romeo and Juliet
• Julius Caesar
• Macbeth
• Hamlet
• King Lear
• Othello
• Antony and Cleopatra
The Histories
• King John
• Richard II
• Henry IV Part 1
• Henry IV Part 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI Part 1
• Henry VI Part 2
• Henry VI Part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII
The Late Romances
• Cymbeline
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
• The Tempest
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Problem Plays
• All’s Well That Ends Well
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice
• Timon of Athens
• Troilus and Cressida
• The Winter’s Tale
The Poetry
• The Sonnets
• A Lover’s Complaint
• The Narrative Poems
It took me four years to finish Willie's entire body of work, and even though there were some ups and downs, ultimately, I am more than happy that I followed through with this project. I learned so much along the way (about literature, about England, about myself, about reviewing books, about researching and doing secondary reading). Willie's works are truly a treasure.
The Comedies
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors
• Love’s Labour’s Lost
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Nights’ Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• The Taming of the Shrew
• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Tragedies
• Coriolanus
• Titus Andronicus
• Romeo and Juliet
• Julius Caesar
• Macbeth
• Hamlet
• King Lear
• Othello
• Antony and Cleopatra
The Histories
• King John
• Richard II
• Henry IV Part 1
• Henry IV Part 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI Part 1
• Henry VI Part 2
• Henry VI Part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII
The Late Romances
• Cymbeline
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
• The Tempest
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Problem Plays
• All’s Well That Ends Well
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice
• Timon of Athens
• Troilus and Cressida
• The Winter’s Tale
The Poetry
• The Sonnets
• A Lover’s Complaint
• The Narrative Poems
It took me four years to finish Willie's entire body of work, and even though there were some ups and downs, ultimately, I am more than happy that I followed through with this project. I learned so much along the way (about literature, about England, about myself, about reviewing books, about researching and doing secondary reading). Willie's works are truly a treasure.
Want to Read
May 31, 2017I plan to read many Shakespeare plays this summer. I won’t complete the full works, but finishing them all is one of my major reading goals. It might take me a few years to do it, but I shall get there eventually!
Here’s where I’m up to at the moment:
1 Two Gentlemen of Verona
2 Taming of the Shrew
3 Henry VI, part 1
4 Henry VI, part 3
5 Titus Andronicus
6 Henry VI, part 2
7 Richard III
8 The Comedy of Errors
9 Love's Labours Lost
10 A Midsummer Night's Dream
11 Romeo and Juliet
12 Richard II
13 King John
14 The Merchant of Venice
15 Henry IV, part 1
16 The Merry Wives of Windsor
17 Henry IV, part 2
18 Much Ado About Nothing
19 Henry V
20 Julius Caesar
21 As You Like It
22 Hamlet
23 Twelfth Night
24 Troilus and Cressida
25 Measure for Measure
26 Othello
27 All's Well That Ends Well
28 Timon of Athens
29 The Tragedy of King Lear
30 Macbeth
31 Anthony and Cleopatra
32 Pericles, Prince of Tyre
33 Coriolanus
34 Winter's Tale
35 Cymbeline
36 The Tempest
37 Henry VIII
38 Sonnets
There's so may greats on this list that I have to read soon!
Here’s where I’m up to at the moment:
1 Two Gentlemen of Verona
3 Henry VI, part 1
4 Henry VI, part 3
6 Henry VI, part 2
8 The Comedy of Errors
9 Love's Labours Lost
10 A Midsummer Night's Dream
13 King John
14 The Merchant of Venice
17 Henry IV, part 2
19 Henry V
24 Troilus and Cressida
26 Othello
27 All's Well That Ends Well
28 Timon of Athens
29 The Tragedy of King Lear
32 Pericles, Prince of Tyre
33 Coriolanus
34 Winter's Tale
35 Cymbeline
37 Henry VIII
There's so may greats on this list that I have to read soon!
January 27, 2014
Have I read this book? Only part of it.
Even so, why argue about that rating?
See bottom of review for a list of the plays in order
What follows is little more than the GoodReads description of the edition pictured. But I feel I can do that, since I wrote the description.
This tome includes all 37 of Shakespeare's plays, as well as his poems and sonnets. It was produced "for college students in the hope that it will help them to understand, appreciate, and enjoy the works for themselves. It is not intended for the scholar ..."
Two-column format throughout.
Introductory Material (90 pages):
1. The Universality of Shakespeare
2. Records of the Life of Shakespeare
3. Shakespeare's England
4. Elizabethan Drama
5. The Elizabethan Playhouse
6. The Study of the Text
7. The Development of Shakespeare's Art
8. Shakespeare and the Critics
9. Shakespearean Scholarship and Criticism 1900-1950
Plates:
16 full-page Halftone Reproductions
6 full-page Line Cuts
9 pages of Notes on the Plates
The Plays:
Generally in order of writing.
Each play has its own Introduction
Footnotes at the bottom of the columns. This makes them both handy and unobtrusive. Liked by this reader.
Appendices follow The Poems:
30 Appendices in about the same number of pages; these deal with a wide variety of topics, everything from "The Melancholic Humor" to "Cuckolds and Horns" to "Hawks and Hawking".
I don't know how it compares with other editions of Shakespeare's works. It is the one I have.
Here are Shakespeare's 37 plays, in the order presented in this edition. This is the best guess (at the time the edition was printed) of the order in which they were written, when on my no-longer-young journey I read the play, and links to my review. (It will take several years for this quest to be completed.)
1. The First Part of King Henry the Sixth
2. The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth
3. The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth
4. The Tragedy of King Richard the Third _2017_Apr.
5. The Comedy of Errors
6. The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus
7. The Taming of the Shrew _2017_Apr.
8. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
9. Love's Labor's Lost
10. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second _2016_Aug.
11. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream _2014_Feb.
13. The Life and Death of King John _2016_Apr.
14. The Merchant of Venice
15. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
16. The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
17. Much Ado About Nothing _2016_Jan.
18. The Life of King Henry the Fifth
19. As You Like It _2015_Feb.
20. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar _2017_Oct.
21. Twelfth Night; or What You Will
22. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor
24. The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida
25. All's Well That Ends Well _2015_June
26. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
27. Measure For Measure
28. The Tragedy of King Lear
29. The Tragedy of Macbeth
30. The Tragedy of Anthony and Cleopatra
31. The Tragedy of Coriolanus
32. Timon of Athens
33. Pericles _2016_Oct.
34. Cymbeline
35. The Winter's Tale
36. The Tempest _2017_July
37. The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: The Once and Future King T.H. White's Arthurian fantasy
Random review: King John Wm.Shakespeare
Next review: Understanding Power Noam Chomsky
Previous library review: Verbivoracious Festschrift Vol. 3 The Syllabus
Next library review: Shakespeare: The world as stage Bill Bryson
Even so, why argue about that rating?
See bottom of review for a list of the plays in order
What follows is little more than the GoodReads description of the edition pictured. But I feel I can do that, since I wrote the description.
This tome includes all 37 of Shakespeare's plays, as well as his poems and sonnets. It was produced "for college students in the hope that it will help them to understand, appreciate, and enjoy the works for themselves. It is not intended for the scholar ..."
Two-column format throughout.
Introductory Material (90 pages):
1. The Universality of Shakespeare
2. Records of the Life of Shakespeare
3. Shakespeare's England
4. Elizabethan Drama
5. The Elizabethan Playhouse
6. The Study of the Text
7. The Development of Shakespeare's Art
8. Shakespeare and the Critics
9. Shakespearean Scholarship and Criticism 1900-1950
Plates:
16 full-page Halftone Reproductions
6 full-page Line Cuts
9 pages of Notes on the Plates
The Plays:
Generally in order of writing.
Each play has its own Introduction
Footnotes at the bottom of the columns. This makes them both handy and unobtrusive. Liked by this reader.
Appendices follow The Poems:
30 Appendices in about the same number of pages; these deal with a wide variety of topics, everything from "The Melancholic Humor" to "Cuckolds and Horns" to "Hawks and Hawking".
I don't know how it compares with other editions of Shakespeare's works. It is the one I have.
Here are Shakespeare's 37 plays, in the order presented in this edition. This is the best guess (at the time the edition was printed) of the order in which they were written, when on my no-longer-young journey I read the play, and links to my review. (It will take several years for this quest to be completed.)
1. The First Part of King Henry the Sixth
2. The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth
3. The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth
4. The Tragedy of King Richard the Third _2017_Apr.
5. The Comedy of Errors
6. The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus
7. The Taming of the Shrew _2017_Apr.
8. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
9. Love's Labor's Lost
10. The Tragedy of King Richard the Second _2016_Aug.
11. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
12. A Midsummer Night's Dream _2014_Feb.
13. The Life and Death of King John _2016_Apr.
14. The Merchant of Venice
15. The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
16. The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth
17. Much Ado About Nothing _2016_Jan.
18. The Life of King Henry the Fifth
19. As You Like It _2015_Feb.
20. The Tragedy of Julius Caesar _2017_Oct.
21. Twelfth Night; or What You Will
22. The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
23. The Merry Wives of Windsor
24. The Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida
25. All's Well That Ends Well _2015_June
26. The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
27. Measure For Measure
28. The Tragedy of King Lear
29. The Tragedy of Macbeth
30. The Tragedy of Anthony and Cleopatra
31. The Tragedy of Coriolanus
32. Timon of Athens
33. Pericles _2016_Oct.
34. Cymbeline
35. The Winter's Tale
36. The Tempest _2017_July
37. The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Previous review: The Once and Future King T.H. White's Arthurian fantasy
Random review: King John Wm.Shakespeare
Next review: Understanding Power Noam Chomsky
Previous library review: Verbivoracious Festschrift Vol. 3 The Syllabus
Next library review: Shakespeare: The world as stage Bill Bryson
March 22, 2016
Celebrity Death Match Special: The Complete Works of Shakespeare versus Deep Learning
Ubergeek Andrej Karpathy had the bright idea of training a recurrent neural network on the complete works of Shakespeare. It produces remarkably good output for an algorithm which not only knows nothing about Shakespeare, but can't even tell a noun from a verb! Here is the first of the two samples he gives:
PANDARUS:
Alas, I think he shall be come approached and the day
When little srain would be attain'd into being never fed,
And who is but a chain and subjects of his death,
I should not sleep.
Second Senator:
They are away this miseries, produced upon my soul,
Breaking and strongly should be buried, when I perish
The earth and thoughts of many states.
DUKE VINCENTIO:
Well, your wit is in the care of side and that.
Second Lord:
They would be ruled after this chamber, and
my fair nues begun out of the fact, to be conveyed,
Whose noble souls I'll have the heart of the wars.
Clown:
Come, sir, I will make did behold your worship.
VIOLA:
I'll drink it.
____________________
The Karpathy article is excellent, and if you're at all geeky yourself I strongly recommend looking at it. The examples are impressive: the random Shakespeare is good, but the random algebraic geometry and random Linux kernel code are even better.
Ubergeek Andrej Karpathy had the bright idea of training a recurrent neural network on the complete works of Shakespeare. It produces remarkably good output for an algorithm which not only knows nothing about Shakespeare, but can't even tell a noun from a verb! Here is the first of the two samples he gives:
PANDARUS:
Alas, I think he shall be come approached and the day
When little srain would be attain'd into being never fed,
And who is but a chain and subjects of his death,
I should not sleep.
Second Senator:
They are away this miseries, produced upon my soul,
Breaking and strongly should be buried, when I perish
The earth and thoughts of many states.
DUKE VINCENTIO:
Well, your wit is in the care of side and that.
Second Lord:
They would be ruled after this chamber, and
my fair nues begun out of the fact, to be conveyed,
Whose noble souls I'll have the heart of the wars.
Clown:
Come, sir, I will make did behold your worship.
VIOLA:
I'll drink it.
____________________
The Karpathy article is excellent, and if you're at all geeky yourself I strongly recommend looking at it. The examples are impressive: the random Shakespeare is good, but the random algebraic geometry and random Linux kernel code are even better.
October 21, 2016
Simply put, When you have The Complete Works of William Shakespeare you have one of the best works of literature ever written. I would definitely place it in the top 10 best works of literature of all time. I bought this book at special price from here:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works...
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works...
April 23, 2012
Update as of 2022: Last summer I went to a live production in a castle garden of A Midsummer Night's Dream. I've always thought this play overdone a bit like Romeo and Juliet, it's one of the more popular ones, and I think I finally realize why. Shakespeare, without a doubt, is meant to be seen on stage. I can not stress enough how incredibly brilliant this author is with the written play and seeing it acted out on stage gives it a whole new dimension. This play was fantastic and had me laughing and falling in love with Shakespeare all over again. One of the best classical authors ever. And I highly encourage you to see at least one of his plays in your lifetime.
Shakespeare as classical writing written when I first started reading Shakespeare:
I understand now why I have such a hard time reading Shakespeare. It's not that it's hard to understand. There are enough translations and self help guides to get you through the plot of any of the plays. And once I started reading and translating, I started to get the hang of it, and had fewer words and phrases that I had to look up. No, it's not that. Simply put, it's a play, and not meant to be read. I know there are some who might disagree with me, however, that's my opinion. I revel in the complacency of description and plays don't have it. It is just dialogue. There is nothing to tell you infinitely how a character is feeling or what they're thinking. There's nothing to tell you how the set looks (besides a sometimes small minimalist description). There is nothing to tell how a character looks, are they beautiful? Are they old? Yes, I understand you can infer many of these things from the dialogue which is what you're supposed to do, but to me, there is great room for interpretation, unlike a book, which will describe it for you.
Also, after doing a little reading on Shakespeare and the republishing of his works, it seems there are many different conflicting sources of original text, which is why you often find various works with different scripts. I truly believe that Shakespeare meant these to be seen on stage, not read from a page. It's where his genius is best seen and appreciated. That being said, I plan to read each play, then watch a movie rendition of each one.
I would also like to list the reasons here that Shakespeare's works are classics instead of going into the same points repeatedly as I review each work. They are classics, I can't dispute it, whether or not I enjoy each individual play or not. And I do believe this is the first time that an author has gotten 8 out of 10 of my Definitions for a Classic.
1. Longevity: He's been around through the ages and I have no doubt we'll be acting out his plays on the moon.
2. The magic factor: His stories will pull you in every time. They focus on the aspects of human nature that we all can relate to, so you care about the outcome of the characters.
3. Unique: He has an unusual literary style that has made him popular throughout history.
4. New Style of Writing: Now I'm stretching it with this one, I know, because anyone who has studied literature knows Shakespeare wasn't the first to use Iambic Pentameter, however I believe he was the first to make it popular. You ask anyone to tell you the first author that comes to mind when you say Iambic Pentameter and they're not going to say Chaucer, they're going to say Shakespeare.
5. Huge Following: There isn't a person on the planet who doesn't know who Shakespeare is.
6. Controversial: To say his works are controversial is an understatement. The amount of times he's been banned is enough to put him in this category. The reasons for his censorship are diverse but range from vulgarity, to sex, to politics, to excessive use of freedom. (seriously, what does that even mean?)
7. Underlying themes: Underlying themes run rampant throughout his works and offer a wide variety of human conditions. Anything from betrayal and love to honour and glory can be seen in his works.
8. Substantial Influence: Shakespeare has had influence in every aspect of society from helping to shape the English language (It's all greek to me and tongue-tied - said to have added over 1700 words to the English language) to politics. (Dangers of introducing foreign politics into a city)
Works I've read:
Julius Caesar
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
Much Ado About Nothing
A Midsummer Night's Dream
King Lear
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Taming of the Shrew
The Comedy of Errors
Shakespeare as classical writing written when I first started reading Shakespeare:
I understand now why I have such a hard time reading Shakespeare. It's not that it's hard to understand. There are enough translations and self help guides to get you through the plot of any of the plays. And once I started reading and translating, I started to get the hang of it, and had fewer words and phrases that I had to look up. No, it's not that. Simply put, it's a play, and not meant to be read. I know there are some who might disagree with me, however, that's my opinion. I revel in the complacency of description and plays don't have it. It is just dialogue. There is nothing to tell you infinitely how a character is feeling or what they're thinking. There's nothing to tell you how the set looks (besides a sometimes small minimalist description). There is nothing to tell how a character looks, are they beautiful? Are they old? Yes, I understand you can infer many of these things from the dialogue which is what you're supposed to do, but to me, there is great room for interpretation, unlike a book, which will describe it for you.
Also, after doing a little reading on Shakespeare and the republishing of his works, it seems there are many different conflicting sources of original text, which is why you often find various works with different scripts. I truly believe that Shakespeare meant these to be seen on stage, not read from a page. It's where his genius is best seen and appreciated. That being said, I plan to read each play, then watch a movie rendition of each one.
I would also like to list the reasons here that Shakespeare's works are classics instead of going into the same points repeatedly as I review each work. They are classics, I can't dispute it, whether or not I enjoy each individual play or not. And I do believe this is the first time that an author has gotten 8 out of 10 of my Definitions for a Classic.
1. Longevity: He's been around through the ages and I have no doubt we'll be acting out his plays on the moon.
2. The magic factor: His stories will pull you in every time. They focus on the aspects of human nature that we all can relate to, so you care about the outcome of the characters.
3. Unique: He has an unusual literary style that has made him popular throughout history.
4. New Style of Writing: Now I'm stretching it with this one, I know, because anyone who has studied literature knows Shakespeare wasn't the first to use Iambic Pentameter, however I believe he was the first to make it popular. You ask anyone to tell you the first author that comes to mind when you say Iambic Pentameter and they're not going to say Chaucer, they're going to say Shakespeare.
5. Huge Following: There isn't a person on the planet who doesn't know who Shakespeare is.
6. Controversial: To say his works are controversial is an understatement. The amount of times he's been banned is enough to put him in this category. The reasons for his censorship are diverse but range from vulgarity, to sex, to politics, to excessive use of freedom. (seriously, what does that even mean?)
7. Underlying themes: Underlying themes run rampant throughout his works and offer a wide variety of human conditions. Anything from betrayal and love to honour and glory can be seen in his works.
8. Substantial Influence: Shakespeare has had influence in every aspect of society from helping to shape the English language (It's all greek to me and tongue-tied - said to have added over 1700 words to the English language) to politics. (Dangers of introducing foreign politics into a city)
Works I've read:
Julius Caesar
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Macbeth
Much Ado About Nothing
A Midsummer Night's Dream
King Lear
The Merchant of Venice
As You Like It
The Taming of the Shrew
The Comedy of Errors
February 8, 2015
It all ended so fast. I feel like it's just January, but look at the calendar - it's December! You surely remember earlier in the year when I said I had put a challenge for myself. This was the Shakespeare Challenge, in which I had to read all the works known by William Shakespeare. Guess what? I finally read them all!
It started in January. I was bored and I didn't know what to read. One day I went to the library and checked out a book that contained 4 of Shakespeare's best plays. I read it and soon after I told myself I needed to read more of his works. Thus, I got another book: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 11 months after, I finally managed to read them all.
The task of reading Shakespeare's works was not as difficult or tedious as it seems to be. It took me long because I was most of the time busy and didn't have time to read, so I read them in-between classes and studying. To my surprise, I loved some of the plays, others disturbed me, and others made me laugh out loud.
The first plays I read were the most popular ones, and were the ones I enjoyes the most. The tragedies worked better for me than the comedies, with the exception of Romeo and Juliet, which I did not despise but didn't love either. My favourite ones are probably Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello and A Midsummer's Night Dream.
About the historical plays, I can say they were harder to read because the tone was more serious and they were not meant to entertain, but they were worth reading all the same. I think the best ones here were the ones about Richard II and III.
As for the poems, they were good too. They were beautiful, and this is said by someone who is not used to read poetry.
I tell you, this challenge is one of the best I've put to myself. For next year, I'm not sure if I'll put more aside the Goodreads one because of my studies, but I certainly will read more classics (for example something by Jane Austen).
August 26, 2013
Please note, this is a review of this particular edition of the "Complete Works of William Shakespeare" from 1923. For reviews of various individual plays by Shakespeare, please see my shelves. **
This edition was published by "The Literary Press, London" on fine paper, to traditional standards, with each section sewn into the spine rather than glued. The top edge of the volume is gilt-edged. It has a soft cover with a burgundy leatherette finish, and gold lettering, plus a gold embossed design of the Shakespeare Coat of Arms.
Not many people know that William Shakespeare received a Coat of Arms from the English Government, to signify that he and his family were now a part of the upper class. Unfortunately, since he did not have a son to carry on the honour, the Coat of Arms was not carried on through the family name. Here is a copy of the Shakespeare Coat of Arms:
The motto is in medieval French: "Non sanz droict" translating to English as, "Not without right".
This volume is clearly intended to be a useful compact volume of Shakespeare's complete works. It is subtitled, Containing the Plays and Poems with special Introductory matter, Index of Characters & Glossary of unfamiliar terms. It can be held in one hand, and is comfortable to handle, considering it that it contains so many works. The frontispiece shows an engraving of "The Stratford Shakespeare":
The print, as one would expect, is quite small, but comparatively clear. The "special introductory matter" mentioned, consists of an introduction by St. John Greer Ervine, the Irish writer and critic, and an essay entitled "Shakepeare and Bacon" by the great Victorian English actor, Henry Irving.
There are also just a few double spread colour plates on glossy paper. These are all by classical painters such as the Pre-Raphaelites William Holman Hunt, and Sir John Everett Millais, and the animal artist Sir Edwin Landseer. There is also a painting by Daniel Maclise, a portrait painter and popular illustrator to Dickens's works, and one by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who specialised in classical subjects, particularly of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire. Since there are only eight of them, they are sadly not very noticeable in a volume of over 1000 pages, but they are attractive to come across in context:
A Scene from "Twelfth Night" ('Malvolio and the Countess') - Daniel Maclise
A Scene from "Midsummer Nights Dream" ('Titania and Bottom')- Sir Edwin Landseer
A Scene from "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" ('Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus')- W. Holman Hunt
This must have been quite an attractive volume originally. It is still a nice one to have, as it presents all the works in a way which is quick to refer to. It is nicer than an average modern "Complete Shakespeare" volume, and easier to use too. It has some history, but is still not my first choice for ease of reading each individual play. However, it was my first introduction to Shakespeare, as I found it in a church jumble sale for a few pennies when I was a child. I remember the occasion well, being convinced I had found a very important work - a real bargain! It therefore has some sentimental value for me personally. I seem to remember there was a yellow-gold silken ribbon bookmark attached at the top ... but it must have got detached and lost over the years.
As today is 23rd April 2016, and the quatercentenary, (400 years) of Shakespeare's death, it seemed a good time to have a look at my oldest book by him, even though it is not yet quite a hundred years old.
**I have not read all the works in this volume. However, if you would like to read my review of a particular play by William Shakespeare, please see my shelves for these.
This edition was published by "The Literary Press, London" on fine paper, to traditional standards, with each section sewn into the spine rather than glued. The top edge of the volume is gilt-edged. It has a soft cover with a burgundy leatherette finish, and gold lettering, plus a gold embossed design of the Shakespeare Coat of Arms.
Not many people know that William Shakespeare received a Coat of Arms from the English Government, to signify that he and his family were now a part of the upper class. Unfortunately, since he did not have a son to carry on the honour, the Coat of Arms was not carried on through the family name. Here is a copy of the Shakespeare Coat of Arms:
The motto is in medieval French: "Non sanz droict" translating to English as, "Not without right".
This volume is clearly intended to be a useful compact volume of Shakespeare's complete works. It is subtitled, Containing the Plays and Poems with special Introductory matter, Index of Characters & Glossary of unfamiliar terms. It can be held in one hand, and is comfortable to handle, considering it that it contains so many works. The frontispiece shows an engraving of "The Stratford Shakespeare":
The print, as one would expect, is quite small, but comparatively clear. The "special introductory matter" mentioned, consists of an introduction by St. John Greer Ervine, the Irish writer and critic, and an essay entitled "Shakepeare and Bacon" by the great Victorian English actor, Henry Irving.
There are also just a few double spread colour plates on glossy paper. These are all by classical painters such as the Pre-Raphaelites William Holman Hunt, and Sir John Everett Millais, and the animal artist Sir Edwin Landseer. There is also a painting by Daniel Maclise, a portrait painter and popular illustrator to Dickens's works, and one by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, who specialised in classical subjects, particularly of the luxury and decadence of the Roman Empire. Since there are only eight of them, they are sadly not very noticeable in a volume of over 1000 pages, but they are attractive to come across in context:
A Scene from "Twelfth Night" ('Malvolio and the Countess') - Daniel Maclise
A Scene from "Midsummer Nights Dream" ('Titania and Bottom')- Sir Edwin Landseer
A Scene from "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" ('Valentine Rescuing Sylvia from Proteus')- W. Holman Hunt
This must have been quite an attractive volume originally. It is still a nice one to have, as it presents all the works in a way which is quick to refer to. It is nicer than an average modern "Complete Shakespeare" volume, and easier to use too. It has some history, but is still not my first choice for ease of reading each individual play. However, it was my first introduction to Shakespeare, as I found it in a church jumble sale for a few pennies when I was a child. I remember the occasion well, being convinced I had found a very important work - a real bargain! It therefore has some sentimental value for me personally. I seem to remember there was a yellow-gold silken ribbon bookmark attached at the top ... but it must have got detached and lost over the years.
As today is 23rd April 2016, and the quatercentenary, (400 years) of Shakespeare's death, it seemed a good time to have a look at my oldest book by him, even though it is not yet quite a hundred years old.
**I have not read all the works in this volume. However, if you would like to read my review of a particular play by William Shakespeare, please see my shelves for these.
May 14, 2022
Finished!!
This took me 4 years. I feel like I should get a plaque or be allowed to put this on my resume or something.
--Favorite plays:
Henry V, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
--Favorite lines:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. —Hamlet
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time. —Macbeth
Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of kings. —Richard II
Sit by my side and let the world slip: we shall ne’er be younger. —The Taming of the Shrew
Everyone can master a grief but he that has it. —Much Ado About Nothing
--Favorite sonnet:
#116
This took me 4 years. I feel like I should get a plaque or be allowed to put this on my resume or something.
--Favorite plays:
Henry V, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
--Favorite lines:
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. —Hamlet
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time. —Macbeth
Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of kings. —Richard II
Sit by my side and let the world slip: we shall ne’er be younger. —The Taming of the Shrew
Everyone can master a grief but he that has it. —Much Ado About Nothing
--Favorite sonnet:
#116
August 8, 2013
19/10 - I've just started a course on Shakespeare through FutureLearn and the first play that we are studying is The Merry Wives of Windsor, which is one I know absolutely nothing about. So far, I've read about three pages, or to the end of scene one and what I understand is that while I can barely understand the language, I can get the general gist of what's going on (or at least I think I can). There are many instances where God is Got, better is petter, brings is prings, very is fery, good is goot, and w is left off the beginning of a couple of words, all of which makes for confusing and slow reading. I think I understand what was being discussed in scene one - Shallow has accused Falstaff of assault, breaking and entering and poaching of his deer - but it was a little difficult to pull that information out of all those difficult and misspelt words. Professor Bate's (who is the scholar running the course) comment that Elizabethan's weren't concerned with spelling is certainly proven correct by the writing in The Merry Wives of Windsor. To be continued...
At the end of act I, scene III - I don't understand why Falstaff is trying to woo a pair of married women. Is he just being spiteful? Or is he delusional enough to really believe that they 'gave him good eyes'? To be continued...
26/10 - Well I finished it, mostly thanks to www.sparknotes.com. I really had trouble with the language throughout the play and had to refer to SparkNotes at least once a page. I could see where the dialogue might be funny, but I think it might work better as an acted out play rather than a read one. I feel like I would have enjoyed The Merry Wives of Windsor a lot more if I had been able to imagine what was happening in the scene better.
Our next play to study is A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is one of the plays I studied at school, I think I was in year 10 literature, so about 16. I remember enjoying it and the movie with Calista Flockhart and Kevin Kline, also the Balanchine ballet. I think I might have to make a concerted effort to get my hands on one or both of these, watching the action really does help my comprehension of the dialogue. To be continued...
31/10 - A Midsummer Night's Dream was an easier and much more humourous read. Having read it before and seen the 1999 movie surely made a difference and "Yay!" I've managed to download/rent that same movie through my pay tv service. A movie of this week's play, Henry V, is proving more difficult to acquire. No luck with my pay tv service, iTunes, Hoyts Kiosk, or my library system.
I've heard the quote
"Once more unto the breach, my dear friends..."
many times but had no idea it was Shakespeare's words that I was hearing, or a paraphrased version of it, from sources as diverse as Star Trek to every day use around the office. To be continued...
PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge: A Play
At the end of act I, scene III - I don't understand why Falstaff is trying to woo a pair of married women. Is he just being spiteful? Or is he delusional enough to really believe that they 'gave him good eyes'? To be continued...
26/10 - Well I finished it, mostly thanks to www.sparknotes.com. I really had trouble with the language throughout the play and had to refer to SparkNotes at least once a page. I could see where the dialogue might be funny, but I think it might work better as an acted out play rather than a read one. I feel like I would have enjoyed The Merry Wives of Windsor a lot more if I had been able to imagine what was happening in the scene better.
Our next play to study is A Midsummer Night's Dream. This is one of the plays I studied at school, I think I was in year 10 literature, so about 16. I remember enjoying it and the movie with Calista Flockhart and Kevin Kline, also the Balanchine ballet. I think I might have to make a concerted effort to get my hands on one or both of these, watching the action really does help my comprehension of the dialogue. To be continued...
31/10 - A Midsummer Night's Dream was an easier and much more humourous read. Having read it before and seen the 1999 movie surely made a difference and "Yay!" I've managed to download/rent that same movie through my pay tv service. A movie of this week's play, Henry V, is proving more difficult to acquire. No luck with my pay tv service, iTunes, Hoyts Kiosk, or my library system.
I've heard the quote
"Once more unto the breach, my dear friends..."
many times but had no idea it was Shakespeare's words that I was hearing, or a paraphrased version of it, from sources as diverse as Star Trek to every day use around the office. To be continued...
PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge: A Play
January 14, 2019
This book was a gift from my mom after I fell in love with Shakespeare's work back in high school when we read a few of his plays in class. I was carrying this book around reading it when I was 16. I've owned it for 21 years now and I still love it as much as I did then. All of his plays are laid out first, then the sonnets and poems. It's perfect for dipping into whenever the mood strikes you. This book is a must have, whether you're a fan of Shakespeare, like classic literature, or just collect certain books. I highly recommend this one!
![Profile Image for clara [inactive account].](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1597844754i/111476161._UY200_CR9,0,200,200_.jpg)
Currently Reading
January 10, 2021*i didn't actually read this collection: this book is being used as "all shakespeare ever written."*
after finishing a blissful little re read of The Tempest, i hopped over to goodreads to review it... and literally experienced an existential crisis.
why, you may ask? i realized -horror of horrors- i haven't shelved a single shakespeare play on here. and im walking around saying he's my favorite author!!!
so i compiled, firstly, a list of the shakespeare i've read, so i could shelve and review it. let's see.
1. The Tempest
2. Julius Caesar
3. Macbeth
4. The Taming of the Shrew
5. Romeo and Juliet
hm. it feels like i've read more than that. i guess because i've seen them performed or read abridged versions of them. ah.
and that's when i had a ✨brilliant idea!✨ i could make this year *drumroll* The Year Of The Great Shakespeare Tbr!
truly a great plan,considering i already have a huge tbr, am currently in a reading slump, and have school things to read, not to mention im in multiple plays and have a million other miscellaneous things to do right now. and god knows what this year is even going to look like anyways. but i decided to go for it.
here is my grand plan.
☽ read the original versions of ☾
-As You Like It
-Much Ado About Nothing
-A Midsummer Nights Dream
-The Two Noble Kinsman
-A Winter's Tale
-Hamlet
-Othello
-Antony and Cleopatra
-Henry VIII
-The Merry Wives of Windsor
☽ memorize a monologue from ☾
- A Midsummer Nights Dream or Much Ado About Nothing
- The Two Noble Kinsman (there's this great lesbian romance monologue from a bi character i loveeee and need to learn)
-Hamlet or Macbeth depending on what i find and like. then, what with my marc antony speech, i will have a comedic, romantic, historic, and tragic monologue!
*theater nerd moment* heh
anyways. on with the plan:
☽ read retellings of/acquire more knowledge of ☾
-Pericles, Prince Of Tyre
-The Two Gentlemen of Verona
-All's Well That Ends Well
-Titus Andronicus
-The Merchant Of Venice
-All the Henrys (or Henries? Idk)
-King Lear
☽ ignore ☾
-King John
-Corialanus
-Anything I Forgot
and there you are. the grand will-use-up-valuble-time-until-i-forget-about-it-and-it-is-never-seen-again plan!! woohoo!
also, i have a feeling a lot of my "read the original versions of" books will transfer to the last list over time. just to prepare you for that.
tl;dr: im going to try (and fail) to read, memorize, and learn about more shakespeare. despite my busy schedule and already-huge tbr. THIS IS A VERY BAD IDEA. KIDS, DONT TRY THIS AT HOME.
after finishing a blissful little re read of The Tempest, i hopped over to goodreads to review it... and literally experienced an existential crisis.
why, you may ask? i realized -horror of horrors- i haven't shelved a single shakespeare play on here. and im walking around saying he's my favorite author!!!
so i compiled, firstly, a list of the shakespeare i've read, so i could shelve and review it. let's see.
1. The Tempest
2. Julius Caesar
3. Macbeth
4. The Taming of the Shrew
5. Romeo and Juliet
hm. it feels like i've read more than that. i guess because i've seen them performed or read abridged versions of them. ah.
and that's when i had a ✨brilliant idea!✨ i could make this year *drumroll* The Year Of The Great Shakespeare Tbr!
truly a great plan,
here is my grand plan.
☽ read the original versions of ☾
-As You Like It
-Much Ado About Nothing
-A Midsummer Nights Dream
-The Two Noble Kinsman
-A Winter's Tale
-Hamlet
-Othello
-Antony and Cleopatra
-Henry VIII
-The Merry Wives of Windsor
☽ memorize a monologue from ☾
- A Midsummer Nights Dream or Much Ado About Nothing
- The Two Noble Kinsman (there's this great lesbian romance monologue from a bi character i loveeee and need to learn)
-Hamlet or Macbeth depending on what i find and like. then, what with my marc antony speech, i will have a comedic, romantic, historic, and tragic monologue!
*theater nerd moment* heh
anyways. on with the plan:
☽ read retellings of/acquire more knowledge of ☾
-Pericles, Prince Of Tyre
-The Two Gentlemen of Verona
-All's Well That Ends Well
-Titus Andronicus
-The Merchant Of Venice
-All the Henrys (or Henries? Idk)
-King Lear
☽ ignore ☾
-King John
-Corialanus
-Anything I Forgot
and there you are. the grand will-use-up-valuble-time-until-i-forget-about-it-and-it-is-never-seen-again plan!! woohoo!
also, i have a feeling a lot of my "read the original versions of" books will transfer to the last list over time. just to prepare you for that.
tl;dr: im going to try (and fail) to read, memorize, and learn about more shakespeare. despite my busy schedule and already-huge tbr. THIS IS A VERY BAD IDEA. KIDS, DONT TRY THIS AT HOME.
October 27, 2023
I challenged myself at the beginning of this year to read The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
I have reviewed each play individually and have shelved them here on GR so won’t comment here about any specific play.
I wasn’t sure when I started this that I would be able to persevere and finish. This was indeed a challenge - it took quite a bit of time and dedication to get through all this material in one year. I’m thankful I made the effort.
As a lifelong reader, to me, this is kind of the Mount Everest of reading. It can be difficult to follow the dialogue and plot in many parts. Fortunately, there are numerous resources out there about William Shakespeare’s works. From Cliffsnotes, Sparknotes, Folgers Shakespeare, and Wikipedia to The Shakespeare Network on YouTube, I admittedly leaned very heavily on about every summary and synopsis that I could. I have to give a special shout out to The Shakespeare Network on YouTube. Excellent audio productions of everything Shakespeare - it was invaluable.
Collectively, Shakespeare’s works are epic. Comedies, dramas, historical plays, beautifully crafted poems and sonnets. It’s been a very worthwhile reading challenge.
I read The Complete Works of William Shakespeare in this order(credit Benjamin McEvoy for the list - which does well in starting big and allows the reader to get used to Shakespeare which helps on some of the more obscure plays).
☑️ 1. Hamlet - 1/1/23 — 5 Stars
☑️ 2. King Lear - 1/7/23 — 3 Stars
☑️ 3. Much Ado About Nothing 1/14/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 4. Romeo and Juliet - 1/20/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 5. Othello - 1/30/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 6. The Tempest - 2/22/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 7. Macbeth - 2/25/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 8. Richard II - 2/26/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 9. A Midsummer Night's Dream -3/1/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 9.5 - Poem Break - Venus and Adonis - 3/12/13 - 4 stars
☑️ 10. Julius Caesar - 3/16/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 11. King Henry IV, Part 1 - 4/6/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 12. King Henry IV, Part 2 - 4/27/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 13. As You Like It - 5/6/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 14. The Merchant of Venice - 5/10/23 - 4.5 stars
☑️ 15. King Henry V - 5/12/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 16. Twelth Night - 5/20/23 - 2 stars
☑️ 17. King Henry VI, Part 1 - 5/21/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 18. All's Well That Ends Well - 5/28/23 - 2.5 stars
☑️ 18.5 Poem Break - The Rape of Lucrece - 5/28/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 19. King Henry VI, Part 2 - 6/7/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 20. The Winter's Tale - 6/12/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 21. Love's Labour's Lost - 7/3/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 22. King Henry VI, Part 3 - 8/25/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 23. Measure for Measure - 8/27/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 24. King Richard the Third - 9/1/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 25. The Taming of the Shrew - 9/10/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 26. Coriolanus - 9/13/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 27. Titus Andronicus - 9/20/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 28. Timon of Athens - 9/23/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 29. King John - 9/30/23 - 2.5 stars
☑️ 29.5 Poem Break - A Lover's Complaint - 10/1/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 30. Troilus and Cressida - 10/3/23 - 1 star
☑️ 31. The Comedy of Errors - 10/5/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 32. Cymbeline - 10/8/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 33. The Merry Wives of Windsor - 10/21/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 34. King Henry VIII - 10/22/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 35. The Two Gentlemen of Verona - 10/25/23 - 2 stars
☑️ 36. Pericles - 10/26/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 37. Antony and Cleopatra - 10/27/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 37.5 - Poem Break - The Passionate Pilgrim and The Phoenix and the Turtle - 10/1/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 38. Shakespeare's Sonnets - 9/6/23 - 2.5 stars
Perhaps I’ll try this challenge again someday. I’ll at least revisit many of these plays. This was great.
I have reviewed each play individually and have shelved them here on GR so won’t comment here about any specific play.
I wasn’t sure when I started this that I would be able to persevere and finish. This was indeed a challenge - it took quite a bit of time and dedication to get through all this material in one year. I’m thankful I made the effort.
As a lifelong reader, to me, this is kind of the Mount Everest of reading. It can be difficult to follow the dialogue and plot in many parts. Fortunately, there are numerous resources out there about William Shakespeare’s works. From Cliffsnotes, Sparknotes, Folgers Shakespeare, and Wikipedia to The Shakespeare Network on YouTube, I admittedly leaned very heavily on about every summary and synopsis that I could. I have to give a special shout out to The Shakespeare Network on YouTube. Excellent audio productions of everything Shakespeare - it was invaluable.
Collectively, Shakespeare’s works are epic. Comedies, dramas, historical plays, beautifully crafted poems and sonnets. It’s been a very worthwhile reading challenge.
I read The Complete Works of William Shakespeare in this order(credit Benjamin McEvoy for the list - which does well in starting big and allows the reader to get used to Shakespeare which helps on some of the more obscure plays).
☑️ 1. Hamlet - 1/1/23 — 5 Stars
☑️ 2. King Lear - 1/7/23 — 3 Stars
☑️ 3. Much Ado About Nothing 1/14/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 4. Romeo and Juliet - 1/20/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 5. Othello - 1/30/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 6. The Tempest - 2/22/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 7. Macbeth - 2/25/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 8. Richard II - 2/26/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 9. A Midsummer Night's Dream -3/1/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 9.5 - Poem Break - Venus and Adonis - 3/12/13 - 4 stars
☑️ 10. Julius Caesar - 3/16/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 11. King Henry IV, Part 1 - 4/6/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 12. King Henry IV, Part 2 - 4/27/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 13. As You Like It - 5/6/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 14. The Merchant of Venice - 5/10/23 - 4.5 stars
☑️ 15. King Henry V - 5/12/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 16. Twelth Night - 5/20/23 - 2 stars
☑️ 17. King Henry VI, Part 1 - 5/21/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 18. All's Well That Ends Well - 5/28/23 - 2.5 stars
☑️ 18.5 Poem Break - The Rape of Lucrece - 5/28/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 19. King Henry VI, Part 2 - 6/7/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 20. The Winter's Tale - 6/12/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 21. Love's Labour's Lost - 7/3/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 22. King Henry VI, Part 3 - 8/25/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 23. Measure for Measure - 8/27/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 24. King Richard the Third - 9/1/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 25. The Taming of the Shrew - 9/10/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 26. Coriolanus - 9/13/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 27. Titus Andronicus - 9/20/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 28. Timon of Athens - 9/23/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 29. King John - 9/30/23 - 2.5 stars
☑️ 29.5 Poem Break - A Lover's Complaint - 10/1/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 30. Troilus and Cressida - 10/3/23 - 1 star
☑️ 31. The Comedy of Errors - 10/5/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 32. Cymbeline - 10/8/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 33. The Merry Wives of Windsor - 10/21/23 - 3.5 stars
☑️ 34. King Henry VIII - 10/22/23 - 3 stars
☑️ 35. The Two Gentlemen of Verona - 10/25/23 - 2 stars
☑️ 36. Pericles - 10/26/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 37. Antony and Cleopatra - 10/27/23 - 4 stars
☑️ 37.5 - Poem Break - The Passionate Pilgrim and The Phoenix and the Turtle - 10/1/23 - 5 stars
☑️ 38. Shakespeare's Sonnets - 9/6/23 - 2.5 stars
Perhaps I’ll try this challenge again someday. I’ll at least revisit many of these plays. This was great.
January 27, 2025
As of today I have read all that shakespeare ever wrote! I couldn’t have done it without you Goodreads OOMFs.
Read
February 28, 2022This year's goal is to attempt to read all of Shakespeare's work
COMEDIES
All's Well That Ends Well 27/1/22
As You Like It 22/2/22
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline 1/3/22
Love's Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream 18/1/22
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night 5/1/22
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale
HISTORIES
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III
TRAGEDIES
Antony and Cleopatra 22/2/22
Coriolanus 23/2/22-28/2/22
Hamlet 4/3/22- 5/3/22
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
THE COMPLETE POEMS
154 Sonnets
A Lover's Complaint 26/1/22
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
A Funeral Elegy 28/1/22
COMEDIES
All's Well That Ends Well 27/1/22
As You Like It 22/2/22
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline 1/3/22
Love's Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night's Dream 18/1/22
Much Ado About Nothing
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night 5/1/22
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale
HISTORIES
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III
TRAGEDIES
Antony and Cleopatra 22/2/22
Coriolanus 23/2/22-28/2/22
Hamlet 4/3/22- 5/3/22
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
THE COMPLETE POEMS
154 Sonnets
A Lover's Complaint 26/1/22
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
A Funeral Elegy 28/1/22
Read
February 24, 2026
"They have been at a great feast
of languages, and stol’n the scraps."
I was introduced to Shakespeare young, through a teacher who perhaps slightly overestimated the average middle-schooler’s capacity to comprehend or, indeed, perform(!) Elizabethan drama, but it wasn't until college that I decided maybe I should try to like him. I knew enough about literature by then to realize that a familiarity with "the Bard" (my only use of that horrible phrase in this review, I promise) could only aid me in understanding pretty much anything else I might eventually decide to pick up, and I'd always enjoyed a crazy literary project. (In high school, in a prolonged fit of religious fervor, I read the entire Christian Bible.) Since I'd encountered almost no Shakespeare in adult life and wanted to cover all of it eventually, it seemed reasonable enough to start at the beginning, in the order it was printed in my enormous, crinkly-paged collected works: from the first stirrings of Will's career straight through to the end.
I discovered belatedly that the chronology of Shakespeare's play-writing is far from a settled matter, and I had to change course a few years into my project when I realized the order I was using was outdated and almost certainly wrong. (I also didn’t start reviewing the plays individually till about three years after I started—many of my early reviews are really retrospectives.) Still more dishearteningly, most of Shakespeare's early plays are simply not very good; if I'd been less single-minded in my zeal and less certain that there would be a real payoff in the end, I can't imagine I'd have kept it up after being introduced to the histories, comedies, and tragedies by way of Henry VI (parts 1-3), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Titus Andronicus, respectively. But, actually, that's a lesson I learned continuously on this journey: there is no single era of Shakespeare's career (as it's been reconstructed for us) which doesn't have its share of flops and duds. He started pretty bad and ended pretty bad and there was a lot of bad in the middle, too. And yet he was Shakespeare. There's a lesson in there, I think.
Of course there are treasures as well. You don't need me to tell you that. I don't consider the canon sacrosanct or Shakespeare himself infallible (as nearly all of my reviews of him show), but it would be absurd to deny all that he is and represents for, at least, English-language literature. For me, the language itself is his most indisputable contribution. I don't know that anyone before or since has wielded English grammar, syntax, and vocabulary so virtuosically, and anyone else I could propose would probably point me right back to him. His characters are iconic, of course—they've become archetypes in themselves. His ability to show us so much of the world and ourselves without ever, really, formulating any cogent worldview of his own is endlessly tantalyzing. And his cultural saturation in the Anglosphere is probably second only to the Bible and maybe Greek mythology or philosophy. Towards the end of my read-through, when I'd tackled every play but The Two Noble Kinsmen, I had a thought: "Of course I'm going to read the rest, it would be ridiculous not to, but if for some reason I didn't, would I really miss out on anything? I've read 37 Shakespeare plays already, when am I ever going to benefit from a familiarity with The Two Noble Kinsmen?" Scarcely had I processed that notion when the Ken Burns documentary I was watching mentioned that Franklin Roosevelt's mother often referred to Teddy as his "noble kinsman." (Just a riff on the title, sure, but how many other authors are there for whom you could name-check their, like, 34th most popular work and trust that it would be understood?)
And yet I do find myself, even now, resistant to full-on bardolatry. I don’t think his body of work is perfection itself—my average star rating for the plays is something like 3.6. I typically enjoy reading around Shakespeare (biographies, criticism, literary reimaginings) much more than I enjoy reading him on his own. I never got to a point in all my reading when I found Shakespearean diction easy or especially natural-feeling. Some of the attitudes on display in certain works are pretty vile, and I don’t think his plays are universally relevant, or un-updatable, or always self-evident in their “greatness.” (There is, after all, a reason you almost never see any of them staged without cuts.) And speaking of staging, though I largely accept the conventional wisdom that “you have to see them performed!,” this is not a prescription I followed very closely, except insofar as I usually read them aloud to myself. In fact, it’s a bit hard for me to get on with Shakespeare on the stage, and often even on film; I like naturalistic versions best, and those aren’t always readily available. (If it tells you anything about my taste or lack thereof, one of my favorite straight adaptations is the heavily Game of Thrones-ified Justin Kurzel Macbeth. My favorite, er, non-straight adaptation is My Own Private Idaho.)
On the other hand (or maybe we’re back to the first hand now), I think it’s impossible for an undertaking like this not to expand the mind and open countless new vistas of thought. My neural pathways have, I’m sure, been permanently restructured by spending my entire twenties and beyond reading and reading about and contemplating Shakespeare. There are plays and poems I now consider favorites which I’d never have bothered with at all if I’d simply been checking off the hits. Some works didn’t provoke much thought in me, but others encouraged me to meditate deeply on race, gender, bigotry, politics, sexual assault, history, power, love. I have opinions, now, about whether the name should be spelled “Imogen” or “Innogen.” I have a favorite Shakespeare collaborator (Middleton, of course). I’m a wholly different person from the one who started this project 12 years ago. That’s not all or even mostly Shakespeare’s doing, but he was a part of it, for sure.
Here are the 15 plays I found most the enjoyable or engaging or thought-provoking, more or less ranked by those criteria, with reviews attached:
Macbeth
Julius Caesar
Othello
The Tempest
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Measure for Measure
Much Ado About Nothing
A Midsummer Night's Dream
1 Henry IV
Richard II
King Lear
Timon of Athens
Richard III
As You Like It
Here are the rest, in alphabetical order:
All's Well That Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
The Comedy of Errors
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
2 Henry IV
Henry V
1 Henry VI
2 Henry VI
3 Henry VI
Henry VIII
King John
Love's Labour's Lost
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
The Taming of the Shrew
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Winter's Tale
Here are my reviews of the poems:
The sonnets
Venus and Adonis
The Rape of Lucrece
Other poems
Here are the three plays I think are most underrated:
Measure for Measure
Richard II
Timon of Athens
And here are the ones I think are most overrated:
King Lear
Henry V
Twelfth Night
Sorry for the hot takes.
”Go, release them, Ariel.
My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,
And they shall be themselves...”
of languages, and stol’n the scraps."
I was introduced to Shakespeare young, through a teacher who perhaps slightly overestimated the average middle-schooler’s capacity to comprehend or, indeed, perform(!) Elizabethan drama, but it wasn't until college that I decided maybe I should try to like him. I knew enough about literature by then to realize that a familiarity with "the Bard" (my only use of that horrible phrase in this review, I promise) could only aid me in understanding pretty much anything else I might eventually decide to pick up, and I'd always enjoyed a crazy literary project. (In high school, in a prolonged fit of religious fervor, I read the entire Christian Bible.) Since I'd encountered almost no Shakespeare in adult life and wanted to cover all of it eventually, it seemed reasonable enough to start at the beginning, in the order it was printed in my enormous, crinkly-paged collected works: from the first stirrings of Will's career straight through to the end.
I discovered belatedly that the chronology of Shakespeare's play-writing is far from a settled matter, and I had to change course a few years into my project when I realized the order I was using was outdated and almost certainly wrong. (I also didn’t start reviewing the plays individually till about three years after I started—many of my early reviews are really retrospectives.) Still more dishearteningly, most of Shakespeare's early plays are simply not very good; if I'd been less single-minded in my zeal and less certain that there would be a real payoff in the end, I can't imagine I'd have kept it up after being introduced to the histories, comedies, and tragedies by way of Henry VI (parts 1-3), The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Titus Andronicus, respectively. But, actually, that's a lesson I learned continuously on this journey: there is no single era of Shakespeare's career (as it's been reconstructed for us) which doesn't have its share of flops and duds. He started pretty bad and ended pretty bad and there was a lot of bad in the middle, too. And yet he was Shakespeare. There's a lesson in there, I think.
Of course there are treasures as well. You don't need me to tell you that. I don't consider the canon sacrosanct or Shakespeare himself infallible (as nearly all of my reviews of him show), but it would be absurd to deny all that he is and represents for, at least, English-language literature. For me, the language itself is his most indisputable contribution. I don't know that anyone before or since has wielded English grammar, syntax, and vocabulary so virtuosically, and anyone else I could propose would probably point me right back to him. His characters are iconic, of course—they've become archetypes in themselves. His ability to show us so much of the world and ourselves without ever, really, formulating any cogent worldview of his own is endlessly tantalyzing. And his cultural saturation in the Anglosphere is probably second only to the Bible and maybe Greek mythology or philosophy. Towards the end of my read-through, when I'd tackled every play but The Two Noble Kinsmen, I had a thought: "Of course I'm going to read the rest, it would be ridiculous not to, but if for some reason I didn't, would I really miss out on anything? I've read 37 Shakespeare plays already, when am I ever going to benefit from a familiarity with The Two Noble Kinsmen?" Scarcely had I processed that notion when the Ken Burns documentary I was watching mentioned that Franklin Roosevelt's mother often referred to Teddy as his "noble kinsman." (Just a riff on the title, sure, but how many other authors are there for whom you could name-check their, like, 34th most popular work and trust that it would be understood?)
And yet I do find myself, even now, resistant to full-on bardolatry. I don’t think his body of work is perfection itself—my average star rating for the plays is something like 3.6. I typically enjoy reading around Shakespeare (biographies, criticism, literary reimaginings) much more than I enjoy reading him on his own. I never got to a point in all my reading when I found Shakespearean diction easy or especially natural-feeling. Some of the attitudes on display in certain works are pretty vile, and I don’t think his plays are universally relevant, or un-updatable, or always self-evident in their “greatness.” (There is, after all, a reason you almost never see any of them staged without cuts.) And speaking of staging, though I largely accept the conventional wisdom that “you have to see them performed!,” this is not a prescription I followed very closely, except insofar as I usually read them aloud to myself. In fact, it’s a bit hard for me to get on with Shakespeare on the stage, and often even on film; I like naturalistic versions best, and those aren’t always readily available. (If it tells you anything about my taste or lack thereof, one of my favorite straight adaptations is the heavily Game of Thrones-ified Justin Kurzel Macbeth. My favorite, er, non-straight adaptation is My Own Private Idaho.)
On the other hand (or maybe we’re back to the first hand now), I think it’s impossible for an undertaking like this not to expand the mind and open countless new vistas of thought. My neural pathways have, I’m sure, been permanently restructured by spending my entire twenties and beyond reading and reading about and contemplating Shakespeare. There are plays and poems I now consider favorites which I’d never have bothered with at all if I’d simply been checking off the hits. Some works didn’t provoke much thought in me, but others encouraged me to meditate deeply on race, gender, bigotry, politics, sexual assault, history, power, love. I have opinions, now, about whether the name should be spelled “Imogen” or “Innogen.” I have a favorite Shakespeare collaborator (Middleton, of course). I’m a wholly different person from the one who started this project 12 years ago. That’s not all or even mostly Shakespeare’s doing, but he was a part of it, for sure.
Here are the 15 plays I found most the enjoyable or engaging or thought-provoking, more or less ranked by those criteria, with reviews attached:
Macbeth
Julius Caesar
Othello
The Tempest
Romeo and Juliet
Hamlet
Measure for Measure
Much Ado About Nothing
A Midsummer Night's Dream
1 Henry IV
Richard II
King Lear
Timon of Athens
Richard III
As You Like It
Here are the rest, in alphabetical order:
All's Well That Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
The Comedy of Errors
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
2 Henry IV
Henry V
1 Henry VI
2 Henry VI
3 Henry VI
Henry VIII
King John
Love's Labour's Lost
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
The Taming of the Shrew
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Winter's Tale
Here are my reviews of the poems:
The sonnets
Venus and Adonis
The Rape of Lucrece
Other poems
Here are the three plays I think are most underrated:
Measure for Measure
Richard II
Timon of Athens
And here are the ones I think are most overrated:
King Lear
Henry V
Twelfth Night
Sorry for the hot takes.
”Go, release them, Ariel.
My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore,
And they shall be themselves...”
September 21, 2015
If the question is "do you recommend Shakespeare?" the answer would be of course, in what universe would he not be recommended?
So I guess the one that would get any conversation whatsoever would be "would you recommend I read the complete works"? Well it certainly is a ride, a journey, there's quite a bit of stuff in here. One thing I'll say is I'm still not entirely convinced of literature's claim on Shakespeare because when I read these plays there's a yearning for performance, for interpretation, for blocking, for I suppose theatrics. Even so much as reading it aloud immediately transforms it, the wordplay comes to the forefront, sentences that seem to run on too long flow like they were meant for it, everything comes alive. Shakespeare's a theater man through and through. The bit that gets lost in reverse metamorphosis from stage to page is most apparent in the comedies. If I were to dissuade someone from reading this, a few of the comedies would be why. Not only do half of them recycle the same tropes and setups, but the wordplay, the slapstick, the puns, they're placid and lifeless on the page where on stage they would flourish. Though at worst I never thought "this is bad", just that "this isn't grabbing me".
But if I were to recommend this to someone it would be for the surprises, the things you don't think would grab you, the things you might never have read on your own if it weren't part of this whole. For me this was Measure for Measure, and Coriolanus, and the histories which read like one cohesive arc when all read at once, and the sonnets, oh lord the sonnets. The sonnets are a treat after reading the 37 plays, they are the most personal connection to Shakespeare, the most candid thoughts of his that exist in print. He muses on love and death and art and insecurity and even makes dorky puns based off of his name Will, the sonnets humanize him. They flow almost as if meant to be read in the order they're presented and they act as the perfect coda to his other works.
Overall if you feel like making the plunge, I can at least assure I'm glad I did.
So I guess the one that would get any conversation whatsoever would be "would you recommend I read the complete works"? Well it certainly is a ride, a journey, there's quite a bit of stuff in here. One thing I'll say is I'm still not entirely convinced of literature's claim on Shakespeare because when I read these plays there's a yearning for performance, for interpretation, for blocking, for I suppose theatrics. Even so much as reading it aloud immediately transforms it, the wordplay comes to the forefront, sentences that seem to run on too long flow like they were meant for it, everything comes alive. Shakespeare's a theater man through and through. The bit that gets lost in reverse metamorphosis from stage to page is most apparent in the comedies. If I were to dissuade someone from reading this, a few of the comedies would be why. Not only do half of them recycle the same tropes and setups, but the wordplay, the slapstick, the puns, they're placid and lifeless on the page where on stage they would flourish. Though at worst I never thought "this is bad", just that "this isn't grabbing me".
But if I were to recommend this to someone it would be for the surprises, the things you don't think would grab you, the things you might never have read on your own if it weren't part of this whole. For me this was Measure for Measure, and Coriolanus, and the histories which read like one cohesive arc when all read at once, and the sonnets, oh lord the sonnets. The sonnets are a treat after reading the 37 plays, they are the most personal connection to Shakespeare, the most candid thoughts of his that exist in print. He muses on love and death and art and insecurity and even makes dorky puns based off of his name Will, the sonnets humanize him. They flow almost as if meant to be read in the order they're presented and they act as the perfect coda to his other works.
Overall if you feel like making the plunge, I can at least assure I'm glad I did.
April 23, 2009
Update: Seven plays into my current spree, I'm going to have to put this on hold due to a lack of time. I've now read 17 total- my most severe weakness is the histories (have only read Richard III and Henry IV). When I come back to this project, I think that I will be reading those in order.
1st: Macbeth (finished-review posted)
2nd: Two Gentlemen of Verona (finished-review posted)
3rd: King Lear (finished-review posted)
4th: Merchant of Venice (finished-review posted)
5th: Othello (finished-review posted)
6th: Comedy of Errors (finished-review posted)
7th: Antony and Cleopatra (finished)
Original Post: I've been thinking about doing this for awhile, but as it is Shakespeare's birthday, I've decided that now is the time to start this project. I want to read everything, starting with the plays I haven't read in awhile, or at all, and moving to the ones I'm more familiar with. I'll post individual reviews as I go through.
1st: Macbeth (finished-review posted)
2nd: Two Gentlemen of Verona (finished-review posted)
3rd: King Lear (finished-review posted)
4th: Merchant of Venice (finished-review posted)
5th: Othello (finished-review posted)
6th: Comedy of Errors (finished-review posted)
7th: Antony and Cleopatra (finished)
Original Post: I've been thinking about doing this for awhile, but as it is Shakespeare's birthday, I've decided that now is the time to start this project. I want to read everything, starting with the plays I haven't read in awhile, or at all, and moving to the ones I'm more familiar with. I'll post individual reviews as I go through.
Read
July 5, 2022This year's goal is to attempt to read all of Shakespeare's work
COMEDIES
All's Well That Ends Well 27/1/22
As You Like It 22/2/22
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline 1/3/22
Love's Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice 20/05/22
A Midsummer Night's Dream 18/1/22
Much Ado About Nothing 19/01/22-21/01/22
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew 20/06/22-21/06/22
The Tempest 24/04/22-25/04/22
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night 5/1/22
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale
HISTORIES
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III
TRAGEDIES
Antony and Cleopatra 22/2/22
Coriolanus 23/2/22-28/2/22
Hamlet 4/3/22- 5/3/22
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth 08/07/22-10/07/22
Othello
Romeo and Juliet 20/05/22
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
THE COMPLETE POEMS
154 Sonnets 09/06/22-11/06/22
A Lover's Complaint 26/1/22
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
A Funeral Elegy 28/1/22 (less)
COMEDIES
All's Well That Ends Well 27/1/22
As You Like It 22/2/22
The Comedy of Errors
Cymbeline 1/3/22
Love's Labours Lost
Measure for Measure
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Merchant of Venice 20/05/22
A Midsummer Night's Dream 18/1/22
Much Ado About Nothing 19/01/22-21/01/22
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Taming of the Shrew 20/06/22-21/06/22
The Tempest 24/04/22-25/04/22
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night 5/1/22
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Winter's Tale
HISTORIES
Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
Henry VIII
King John
Richard II
Richard III
TRAGEDIES
Antony and Cleopatra 22/2/22
Coriolanus 23/2/22-28/2/22
Hamlet 4/3/22- 5/3/22
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth 08/07/22-10/07/22
Othello
Romeo and Juliet 20/05/22
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
THE COMPLETE POEMS
154 Sonnets 09/06/22-11/06/22
A Lover's Complaint 26/1/22
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
A Funeral Elegy 28/1/22 (less)
Want to Read
December 13, 2021this is officially the biggest book I own, and it’s actually just a bunch of books/ plays/ poems in one
Read
January 6, 2020Well that was a quick read--for Yale’s recently departed Harold Bloom, who could read 400 pages an hour and recall them with his photographic memory. Long ago I vowed to read all of Shakespeare as I thought it would get easier and more rewarding with age. So I recently bought Longman’s door stop because I liked the binding and it includes 200+ pages of commentary by Shakespearean scholar David Bevington. One of my 2020 New Year’s resolutions is to read at least one or two works a year, so I will be gradually adding entries to this review.
“HAMLET” 5 January 2020
I decided to start with “Hamlet” because I just read a biography of John Quincy Adams and it was his favorite work. At 4000 lines, it is Shaekespeare’s longest play. Harold Bloom considers “Hamlet” to be “the most extraordinary single work of Western literature that I have ever read” (2003 PBS interview).
Reading “Hamlet” cold without brushing up on my Elizabethan English made for tough sledding, but my first reward was discovering that my favorite literary quote came from this work: “This above all: to thine own self be true” (1.3). I still can’t appreciate iambic pentameter, but I know a good couplet when I see it:
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go. (3.4)
To my great surprise, neither of these lines are uttered by Hamlet.
I didn’t find Bevington’s supporting commentary to be as enlightening as I had expected, so I then read Bloom’s 17 pages on Hamlet in “How to Read and Why” (2000). Bloom’s final thought is my favorite, “Whether we ourselves expect annihilation or resurrection, we are likely to end caring about our name. Hamlet, the most charismatic and intelligent of all fictive characters, prefigures our hopes for courage at our common end” (p. 217-8).
I concluded my reintroduction to Shakespeare by watching Lawrence Oliver’s wonderful interpretation and modest abbreviation of “Hamlet” (1948). Pure joy. Let me know if you find a better way to spend 2.5 hours on YouTube!
“HAMLET” 5 January 2020
I decided to start with “Hamlet” because I just read a biography of John Quincy Adams and it was his favorite work. At 4000 lines, it is Shaekespeare’s longest play. Harold Bloom considers “Hamlet” to be “the most extraordinary single work of Western literature that I have ever read” (2003 PBS interview).
Reading “Hamlet” cold without brushing up on my Elizabethan English made for tough sledding, but my first reward was discovering that my favorite literary quote came from this work: “This above all: to thine own self be true” (1.3). I still can’t appreciate iambic pentameter, but I know a good couplet when I see it:
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go. (3.4)
To my great surprise, neither of these lines are uttered by Hamlet.
I didn’t find Bevington’s supporting commentary to be as enlightening as I had expected, so I then read Bloom’s 17 pages on Hamlet in “How to Read and Why” (2000). Bloom’s final thought is my favorite, “Whether we ourselves expect annihilation or resurrection, we are likely to end caring about our name. Hamlet, the most charismatic and intelligent of all fictive characters, prefigures our hopes for courage at our common end” (p. 217-8).
I concluded my reintroduction to Shakespeare by watching Lawrence Oliver’s wonderful interpretation and modest abbreviation of “Hamlet” (1948). Pure joy. Let me know if you find a better way to spend 2.5 hours on YouTube!
December 18, 2014
There's special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.
If readiness be all, then this volume is a staple on any bookshelf. Ready to be opened for quick quote checks, ready to be heaved at home intruders (it's really heavy), it is useful in so many ways. It stays open on the window shelf, so the afternoon breeze can choose its special pages. Additionally, there are several sections dealing with Shakespeare's life, the Plague, Elizabethan art, and the people of the Great Poet's time.
The extras are worthwhile. For instance, Tudor London was a genuinely filthy place, but as editor G.B. Harrison makes clear, it was still beautiful in its own way. There was no smog to grime the buildings, half-timbered homes stood on narrow lanes, and the Thames was still clear. The old City was all but wiped out in the Great Fire of 1666. Maybe that's why I love having this huge volume on hand, so I can imagine olden times filled with silver tongues.
Confession: I also use this to come up with the many passwords I need for all of my online apps. That's because the bottom of each page has highlighted words and their meanings. It helps.
Book Season = Year Round (thitherward)
Read
July 26, 2020Not bad.
April 18, 2026
Genius and banal all at once. I made it about halfway before the tedium of so much wretched dialogue finally burnt me out
June 10, 2013
Young Frankie in Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes says that "Shakespeare is like mashed potatoes; you can never have too much." It's a compliment both to the poet and the potato, and I agree wholeheartedly. To read the ol' Swan of Avon straight through has, I believe, made me legitimately smarter, and not just in a know-more-stuff-in-my-chosen-profession sense, but in a understand-the-world-around-me sense. Eliot says that Shakespeare and Dante "divided the world between them, and there is no third." So yeah, he's good.
Anyway, here's a little something I wrote for the kids in my school's creative writing club:
The Ballad of Billy S.
this is the rule: if you can kill
a guy just by dropping
someone's "Collected Works" on him,
the author is a king
because if we collect your works,
it follows that you're good
and if you're writing all that much
we'll read you (or, we should)
and Ceasars come and Ceasars go
but "et tu, Brute?" endures
and what has stood time's test must be
'gainst ipads, too, secure.
"it cannot be coincidence"
(his chant was like a seer's)
"it flows in such easy iambs:
The Bard: William Shakespeare."
Anyway, here's a little something I wrote for the kids in my school's creative writing club:
The Ballad of Billy S.
this is the rule: if you can kill
a guy just by dropping
someone's "Collected Works" on him,
the author is a king
because if we collect your works,
it follows that you're good
and if you're writing all that much
we'll read you (or, we should)
and Ceasars come and Ceasars go
but "et tu, Brute?" endures
and what has stood time's test must be
'gainst ipads, too, secure.
"it cannot be coincidence"
(his chant was like a seer's)
"it flows in such easy iambs:
The Bard: William Shakespeare."
April 24, 2020
My reading Shakespeare journey is complete!
I started with the plays back in 2010, and then again in 2015. It took me until the end of 2018 to finish all of the plays, and it was quite an amazing journey. I found that I am a sucker for the tragedies but don't often love the comedies. Histories were hit and miss, I loved Henry the Fourth Parts I & II, Henry V and Richard III. In fact, Richard III is in the running for my all time favourite, up there with Macbeth and King Lear. I have a side project to watch adaptations of all the plays, which is taking longer than I thought (some aren't done very often), but it's been a fun experience as well.
After I finished the plays, I took a break from reading Shakespeare. Than in 2019 I thought it was time to finish off the complete works! So I tucked into reading the sonnets and the poems, and the last thing to read was The Phoenix and Turtle (just 1 page!) on April 23rd - Shakespeare's Birthday! It felt like a fitting time to complete the journey.
I started with the plays back in 2010, and then again in 2015. It took me until the end of 2018 to finish all of the plays, and it was quite an amazing journey. I found that I am a sucker for the tragedies but don't often love the comedies. Histories were hit and miss, I loved Henry the Fourth Parts I & II, Henry V and Richard III. In fact, Richard III is in the running for my all time favourite, up there with Macbeth and King Lear. I have a side project to watch adaptations of all the plays, which is taking longer than I thought (some aren't done very often), but it's been a fun experience as well.
After I finished the plays, I took a break from reading Shakespeare. Than in 2019 I thought it was time to finish off the complete works! So I tucked into reading the sonnets and the poems, and the last thing to read was The Phoenix and Turtle (just 1 page!) on April 23rd - Shakespeare's Birthday! It felt like a fitting time to complete the journey.
Want to Read
August 25, 2016And so my hypothesis is wrong. I was going to say that my Yale Shakespeare makes Bottom's Dream look like kiddie=play. But, no. Only 1517 pages. Two column. But it is BIG. FAT and TALL and THICK. .....BUT, you'll notice that the 406 editions of the Complete Shakespeare as listed on gr have garnered a total of 45,434 Ratings & 742 Reviews. In other words, there are more people who have read ALL of Shakespeare than are dreamt of in your dreams of slender volumes. Bottom's Dream ain't so bad.....
November 28, 2020
I binge-read Shakespeare as research for my novel Shakespeare's Twin Sister. And this edition was particularly good for that.
Rereading Shakespeare is like playing a piece of music. The pleasure grows as you learn it, until you can watch it in your mind without looking at the words, like you can play the music without looking at the score and then can hear the music without playing it.
Rereading Shakespeare is like playing a piece of music. The pleasure grows as you learn it, until you can watch it in your mind without looking at the words, like you can play the music without looking at the score and then can hear the music without playing it.
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