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William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is conventionally regarded as the greatest English-language playwright of all time. Many of his plays are required reading in many U. S. school curriculums; those taught in schools often include [[Romeo and Juliet|The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet]], [[Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth]] (the scottish play), [[A Midsummer Night's Dream]] and [[Hamlet|The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark]],

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is conventionally regarded as the greatest English-language playwright of all time. Many of his plays are required reading in many U. S. school curriculums; those taught in schools often include [[Romeo and Juliet|The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet]], [[Macbeth|The Tragedy of Macbeth]] (the scottish play), [[A Midsummer Night's Dream]] and [[Hamlet|The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark]].

 

Because Shakespeare's plays are so familiar, there are innumerable references to them in English literature. Sometimes his stories are recast into a different form. Audiences are expected to recognize the musical ''West Side Story'' as a retelling of ''Romeo and Juliet,'' and the classic science-fiction movie ''Forbidden Planet'' as a transformed version of ''The Tempest.'' The motion picture ''Shakespeare in Love,'' which won the 1998 Academy Award as Best Picture, while not historically accurate in detail, is enjoyed for capturing a sense of what Shakespeare's time and place may have been like.

He is also famous for his one hundred and fifty-four [[sonnets]], short poems written in a very strict rhyme scheme. The sonnets fall into series or sequences. Most of them are usually read as expressions of romantic or platonic love; some appear to be written to a married woman known in the sonnets as the "Dark Lady," some to a young man known as the "Fair Lord."

He is also famous for his one hundred and fifty-four [[sonnets]], short poems written in a very strict rhyme scheme. The sonnets fall into series or sequences. Most of them are usually read as expressions of romantic or platonic love; some appear to be written to a married woman known in the sonnets as the "Dark Lady," some to a young man known as the "Fair Lord."