Shakespeare’s literary life

1589-1613

• Comedies Histories Tragedies• All’s Well That Ends Well Henry IV, part II Coriolanus• As You Like It Henry V Cymbeline• Comedy of Errors Henry VI,part I Julius Caesar• Love’s Labour’s Lost Henry VI,partII King Lear• Measure for Measure King John Macbeth• Merchant of Venice Pericles Othello• Merry Wives of Windsor RichardII Romeo and Juliet• Midsummer Night’s Dream Richard III Timon of Athens• Winter’s Tale HenryVI,part III Antony and Cleopatra Troilus and Cressida

Dr. Samuel Johnson:Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature: the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful

mirror of manners and of life.