William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English poet and playwright who many consider to be the greatest writer of the English language. He lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and married Anne Hathaway (not that one), having three children with her (including two twins). He was respected for his work in his own time, but it wasn’t until the 19th century when he became a legend. To this day, his works are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted.

William Shakespeare’s first known work is The Two Gentlemen of Verona, which dates back to 1589 and was published for the first time in 1623. Previous to that, he had written Love’s Labour’s Won, a lost play that predates 1589. His work is broken down into the categories Comedies, Poems, Histories, Tragedies and Apocrypha. Below is a list of William Shakespeare’s plays in order of when they were first officially recorded:

Publication Order of Comedy Plays

The Tempest(1593)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Two Gentlemen of Verona(1594)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Merry Wives of Windsor(1594)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Measure for Measure(1594)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Comedy of Errors(1594)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Much Ado About Nothing(1595)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Love's Labour's Lost(1595)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
A Midsummer Night's Dream(1595)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Merchant of Venice(1598)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
As You Like It(1599)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Taming of the Shrew(1599)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
All's Well That Ends Well(1604)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Twelfth Night(1605)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Winter's Tale(1605)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Pericles(1606)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Two Noble Kinsmen(1634)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Order of plays is based on the First Folio.

Publication Order of History Plays

Publication Order of Tragedy Plays

Publication Order of Collections

The Prince's Choice(1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare(1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Complete Sonnets of William Shakespeare(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com

Publication Order of Poetry for Young People Books

Walt Whitman (By: Walt Whitman)(1977)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Robert Frost (By: Robert Frost)(1994)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Emily Dickinson (By: Emily Dickinson)(1994)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Edgar Allan Poe (By: Edgar Allan Poe)(1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Carl Sandburg (By: Carl Sandburg)(1995)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (By: )(1998)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Edna St. Vincent Millay (By: Edna St. Vincent Millay)(1999)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Robert Louis Stevenson (By: Robert Louis Stevenson)(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
William Shakespeare(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Lewis Carroll (By: Lewis Carroll)(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Rudyard Kipling (By: Rudyard Kipling)(2000)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Edward Lear (By: Edward Lear)(2001)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
American Poetry (By: John Hollander)(2002)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
William Butler Yeats (By: W.B. Yeats)(2002)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Robert Browning (By: Robert Browning)(2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge)(2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
William Wordsworth (By: )(2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Alfred Tennyson (By: Alfred Tennyson)(2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
William Carlos Williams (By: William Carlos Williams)(2003)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Animal Poems (By: John Hollander)(2004)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Wallace Stevens (By: Wallace Stevens)(2004)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
The Seasons (By: John N. Serio)(2004)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Langston Hughes (By: Langston Hughes)(2006)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
William Blake (By: William Blake)(2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
Poetry for Young People (By: Maya Angelou)(2007)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
African American Poetry (By: Karen Barbour)(2013)Description / Buy at Amazon.com
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Publication Order of Anthologies

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Note: Cardenio was co-written by John Fletcher.

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