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| x English Renaissance |
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The English Renaissance was a cultural and artistic movement in England dating from the early 16th century to the early 17th century. It is associated with the pan-European Renaissance that many cultural historians believe originated in northern...
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| x John Milton |
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John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, author, polemicist and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost and for his treatise condemning censorship, Areopagitica.
He...
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| x Paradise Lost |
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Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's...
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| x Areopagitica |
Areopagitica: A speech of Mr. John Milton for the liberty of unlicensed printing to the Parliament of England is a 1644 prose polemical tract by English author John Milton against censorship. Areopagitica is among history's most influential and...
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| x Paradise Regained |
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Paradise Regained is a poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton, published in 1671. It is connected by name to his earlier and more famous epic poem Paradise Lost, with which it shares similar theological themes. It deals with the subject...
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| x Samson Agonistes |
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Samson Agonistes (Greek: "Samson the agonist") is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's Paradise Regain'd in 1671, as the title page of that volume states: "Paradise Regained / A Poem / In IV Books / To...
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| x William Shakespeare |
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William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – died 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and...
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| x Hamlet |
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The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who...
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| x Macbeth |
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The Tragedy of Macbeth, commonly just Macbeth, is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. The earliest account of a...
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| x Othello |
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Othello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" ("A Moorish Captain") by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published...
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| x Romeo and Juliet |
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Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young "star-cross'd lovers" whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his...
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| x The Merchant of Venice |
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The Merchant of Venice is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio, and while it shares certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the...
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| x As You Like It |
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As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The work was based upon the novel Rosalynde by Thomas Lodge. The play's first performance is...
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| x A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare. It was suggested by "The Knight's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales and written around 1594 to 1596. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and...
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| x Henry V |
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Henry V is a history play by William Shakespeare, written in 1599. It is based on the life of King Henry V of England, and focuses on events immediately before and after the Battle of Agincourt (1415) during the Hundred Years' War.
The play is the...
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| x King Lear |
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King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1603 and 1606. It is considered one of his greatest works. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king. It has been...
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| x Much Ado About Nothing |
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Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare set in Messina, Sicily. The story concerns a pair of lovers named Claudio and Hero who are due to be married in a week. To pass the time before their wedding day, they conspire with...
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| x Titus Andronicus |
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Titus Andronicus may be Shakespeare's earliest tragedy; it is believed to have been written in the early 1590s. It depicts a Roman general who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with his enemy Tamora, the Queen of the Goths. The play is by far...
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| x Measure for Measure |
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Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was originally listed as a comedy, but is also classified by modern scholars as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. Originally published in the...
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| x All's Well That Ends Well |
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All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably written between 1601 and 1608, and it was first published in the First Folio in 1623.
Though originally the play was classified as a comedy, the play is now considered by...
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| x The Taming of the Shrew |
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The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594.
The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a drunken tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking...
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| x Antony and Cleopatra |
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Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. The plot is based on Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's Life of Markus Antonius and follows the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark...
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| x King John |
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The Life and Death of King John, a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of King John of England (ruled 1199–1216), son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III of England. It is believed to have...
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| x Love's Labour's Lost |
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Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.
The name of the play comes from a poem written by the Greek Theognis:
"To do good to one's enemies is...
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| x The Winter's Tale |
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The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, first published in the First Folio in 1623. Although it was listed as a comedy when it first appeared, some modern editors have relabeled the play a romance. Some critics, among them W. W. Lawrence...
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| x Richard III |
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Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591, depicting the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the...
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| x Pericles, Prince of Tyre |
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Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a play written at least in part by William Shakespeare and included in modern editions of his collected works despite questions over its authorship, as it was not included in the First Folio. Modern editors generally...
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| x The Two Gentlemen of Verona |
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The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1590 or 1591. It has the smallest cast of any of Shakespeare's plays, and is the first of his plays in which a heroine dresses as a boy. It deals with...
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| x Troilus and Cressida |
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Troilus and Cressida is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. The play (also described as one of Shakespeare's problem plays) is not a conventional tragedy, since its protagonist (Troilus) does not die. The play...
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| x The Comedy of Errors |
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The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays, believed to have been written between 1592 and 1594. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity,...
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| x Venus and Adonis |
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Venus and Adonis is a poem by William Shakespeare, written in 1592-93, with a plot based on passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses. It is a complex, kaleidoscopic work, using constantly shifting tone and perspective to present contrasting views of the...
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| x First Folio |
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Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio.
Printed in folio format and containing 36 plays (see list of...
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| x Twelfth Night, or What You Will |
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Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1600-01 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous...
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| x The Rape of Lucrece |
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The Rape of Lucrece (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis (1593), Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in...
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| x The Tempest |
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The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–11, although some researchers have argued for an earlier dating. The play's protagonist is the banished sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, who initially uses his magical...
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| x Ben Jonson |
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Benjamin Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which...
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| x John Donne |
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John Donne, pronounced /ˈdʌn/ "dun" (21 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English Jacobean poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include...
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| x Thomas More |
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Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), also known as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, scholar, author, and statesman.
During his life he gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist, a violent opponent of the Reformation...
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| x John Dryden |
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John Dryden (9 August 1631 – 12 May 1700) was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the...
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| x Thomas Middleton |
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Thomas Middleton (18 April 1580 – 1627) was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period....
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| x Christopher Marlowe |
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Christopher Marlowe (c. 26 February 1564–30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost Elizabethan tragedian next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching...
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| x John Webster |
John Webster (c.1580 – c.1634) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William...
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| x Aphra Behn |
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Aphra Behn (10 July 1640 – 16 April 1689) was a prolific dramatist of the Restoration and was one of the first English professional female writers. Her writing participated in the amatory fiction genre of British literature.
The personal history of...
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| x John Bunyan |
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John Bunyan (28 November 1628 – 31 August 1688) was an English Christian writer and preacher, famous for writing The Pilgrim's Progress. In the Church of England, he is remembered with a Lesser Festival on 30 August.
Bunyan was born in Harrowden ...
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| x Baldassare Castiglione |
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Baldassare Castiglione, count of Novilara (December 6, 1478 – February 2, 1529), was an Italian courtier, diplomat, soldier and a prominent Renaissance author.
He was born into an illustrious Lombard family near Casatico, near Mantua, where his...
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| x William Congreve |
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William Congreve (24 January 1670 – 19 January 1729) was an English playwright and poet.
Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England (near Leeds). His parents were William Congreve (1637–1708) and his wife, Mary (née Browning; 1636?–1715);...
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| x George Etherege |
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Sir George Etherege (1635?, Maidenhead, Berkshire–c. 10 May 1692, Paris ) was an English dramatist. He wrote the plays The Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tub in 1664, She Would if She Could in 1668, and The Man of Mode or, Sir Fopling Flutter in 1676...
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| x George Herbert |
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George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was a Welsh poet, orator and priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education which led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a...
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| x Thomas Hobbes |
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Thomas Hobbes (5 April 1588 – 4 December 1679) was an English philosopher, remembered today for his work on political philosophy. His 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation for most of Western political philosophy from the perspective of...
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| x Thomas Kyd |
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Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558 – buried 15 August 1594) was an English dramatist, the author of The Spanish Tragedy, and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.
Although well-known in his own time, Kyd fell...
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| x John Locke |
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John Locke (pronounced /lɒk/; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English physician and philosopher regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered the first of the British empiricists, he is equally important to...
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| x Niccolò Machiavelli |
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Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527) was an Italian philosopher, writer, and is considered one of the main founders of modern political science. He was a diplomat, political philosopher, musician, and playwright, but,...
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| x Andrew Marvell |
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Andrew Marvell (31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman (also named Andrew Marvell). As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert....
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| x Thomas Nashe |
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Thomas Nashe (November 1567 – c. 1601) was an English Elizabethan pamphleteer, poet and satirist. He was the son of the minister William Nashe and his wife Margaret (née Witchingham).
Little is known with certainty of Nashe's life. He was baptized...
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| x Walter Raleigh |
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Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall (c. 1552 – 29 October 1618) was a English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, and explorer.
Raleigh was born to a Protestant family in Devon, the son of Walter Raleigh and Catherine...
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| x Mary Sidney |
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Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke née Mary Sidney (27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621), was one of the first English women to achieve a major reputation for her literary works, translations and literary patronage.
Born at a royal residence,...
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| x No Display Name |
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Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) became one of the Elizabethan Age's most prominent figures. Famous in his day in England as a poet, courtier and soldier, he remains known as the author of Astrophel and Stella (1581, pub. 1591)...
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| x Edmund Spenser |
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Edmund Spenser (c. 1552 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem celebrating, through fantastical allegory, the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern...
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| x John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester |
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John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1 April 1647 – 26 July 1680) was an English Libertine, a friend of King Charles II, and the writer of much satirical and bawdy poetry.
He was the toast of the Restoration court and a patron of the arts. He married...
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| x Lady Mary Wroth |
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Lady Mary Wroth (1587–1651/3) was an English poet of the Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary English family, Wroth was among the first female British writers to have achieved an enduring reputation. She is perhaps best known for having...
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