William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor who flourished during the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. Known as the 'Bard of Avon,' he wrote 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and three longer narrative poems. His plays, often written in blank verse and composed in iambic pentameter, were incredibly popular in their day and continue to be performed around the world; they include comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night, tragedies like Hamlet and Macbeth, histories such as Henry V, and tragicomedies like The Tempest. Arguably the most influential dramatist of all time, Shakespeare's legacy has only grown throughout the centuries. In the words of fellow playwright Ben Jonson, Shakespeare was "not of an age, but for all time."