William Shakespeare William Shakespeare (baptized April 26 1564- April 24 1614) his actual birthdate remains unknown. He was an English poet and a playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. Often called “England’s National Poet” and “Barad of Avon” His surviving works include some collaborations, consisting of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems and other poems. His plays have been translated to many major living languages and are performed more than any other playwright. Shakespeare wrote during the Elizabethan era which is also referred to the Golden Age of Literature, it is fortunate that the greatest poets flourished at a time when it was possible to write poetic drama for the popular theatre, and Shakespeare above all was a theatre man. His works were during England’s Renaissance a time when the arts started to flourish among those arts was the literature. …show more content…
In 1598 the cleric and author Francis Meres singles him out of a group of English writer as “the most excellent” in both comedy and tragedy. In the First Folio, Ben Jonson called Shakespeare the “Soul of the age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage” though he had stated elsewhere that Shakespeare had wanted art. In the 17th century critics rated Shakespeare below John Fletcher and Ben Jonson. Some writers during the time like Thomas Rymer condemned Shakespeare for mixing comedy with tragedy. It wasn’t until the 18th century that critics began to respond to Shakespeare in his own term and acclaim what they termed his natural genius. Scholary editions by Samuel Johnson in 1765 and Edmond Malone in1790 added to his growing reputation. In the 18th century his reputation spread abroad. The poet and literary philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge praised Shakespeare during the Romantic