Shakespeare, William. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

Shakespeare, William

SYLLABICATION:	Shake·speare
PRONUNCIATION:	shkspîr
DATES:	1564–1616
	English playwright and poet whose body of works is considered the greatest in English literature. His plays, many of which were performed at the Globe Theater in London, include historical works, such as Richard II, comedies, including Much Ado about Nothing and As You Like It, and tragedies, such as Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear. He also composed 154 sonnets. The earliest collected edition of his plays, the First Folio, contained 36 plays and was published posthumously (1623).
OTHER FORMS:	Shake·speare·an, Shake·speari·an —ADJECTIVE & NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.