Shakespeare

The acclaimed actor talks about the essential message of love he discovered at the heart of each sonnet while recording all 154 for a new audiobook. He also shares recordings of three of the sonnets, including his favorite one.

Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy, Macbeth, tells a story of ambition, violent murder, and its crippling psychological aftereffects, all foretold by a trio of witches. Explore some of the play’s most well-known lines, in order of their appearance.

What do we know about Shakespeare’s life? As Shakespeare Documented shows, we know quite a bit about him as a playwright, businessman, and family man through primary sources from his lifetime and shortly thereafter.

Richard II opens Shakespeare’s Henriad tetralogy of English history plays and is one of his most eloquent. Explore some of the play’s most well-known lines, in order of their appearance.

Shakespeare’s beloved pastoral comedy overflows with wit and poetry, including the memorable Seven Ages of Man speech which begins “All the world’s a stage.” Explore some of the play’s most well-known lines, in order of their appearance.

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?