Shakespeare

Reference Associate Erika Giddens, who manages the Folger’s Ask a Librarian service, takes us behind the scenes to share some of the most asked questions about Shakespeare and how she answers them.

This late romance combines tragedy and comedy in an improbable tale filled with powerful emotions and one of the finest songs in all of Shakespeare, “Fear no more the heat o’ th’ sun.” Explore some of the most well-known quotes, in order of their appearance in the play.

As America celebrates its 250^th anniversary, we’re exploring the larger-than-life role played by an English playwright from more than 400 years ago in American entertainment, education, and history. Enjoy a round-up of Folger podcasts and blog posts about Shakespeare’s influence in America.

Enjoy our top five Shakespeare & Beyond blog posts from 2025. Happy reading!

Austin Tichenor takes a look at Chloé Zhao’s film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel Hamnet, writing that Jessie Buckley’s performance as Agnes is the fiercest and most fully-rounded onscreen portrait of Shakespeare’s wife ever seen.

Following the extraordinary success of Tamburlaine, might the theatrical impresario Philip Henslowe have brought Marlowe together with Shakespeare to write about the Wars of the Roses? An excerpt from Dark Renaissance by Stephen Greenblatt.

You probably know Anthony Burgess as the author of A Clockwork Orange, but did you know he was also a prominent commentator on Shakespeare’s life?

A century after Shakespeare’s death, the Shakespeare Ladies Club ensured his original plays were not forgotten. The quarter discussed his plays, convinced theaters to produce them, and even campaigned for his statue in Westminster Abbey.

2025 marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and the world is throwing a party in her honor all year long. We’re kicking off our celebration with a round-up of Austen stories and resources for reading and watching.

In an excerpt from Straight Acting, Will Tosh tells the story of Richard Barnfield’s meteoric rise in literary London in the 1590s and how his groundbreaking poetry influenced Shakespeare’s sonnets.

Matthew Steggle’s findings about a letter addressed to “Good Mrs Shakspaire” show the couple might have lived together in London at the time that Shakespeare was writing Hamlet and Othello, dispelling certain myths about their marriage.

This signboard, probably created in the late 1600s to the early 1700s, is based on the popular “Chandos portrait”—the only portrait of Shakespeare that may have been painted from life.