William Shakespeare The English dramatist and poet William Shakespeare was the author of the most widely admired and influential body of literature by any individual in the history of Western civilization. His work includes 36 plays, 154 sonnets, and 2 narrative poems. Knowledge of Shakespeare is derived from two sources: his works and those remains of legal and church records and contemporary allusions through which scholars can trace the external facts of his life. The poetry of the English Renaissance between 1580 and 1660 was the result of a remarkable burst of energy. It is, however, the drama of