Beginning with Shakespeare

In my hand, I hold a volume of Shakespeare's complete works. After recently finishing a graduate level course covering a portion of his plays, I was inspired to get to know him better by reading through his complete ouevre.

After some quick browsing on the web, I found the following excerpt and chronology of Shakespeare's works written by J.M. Pressley on the website of the Shakespeare Resource Center.

"The problem with any timeline of Shakespeare's works is that most dates are subject to interpretation. While it is easy to say that The Comedy of Errors is an early work and The Tempest is quite later, exact dates are not—and may not ever be—proved" (Pressley).

Work	Written	Published
The Comedy of Errors	1589-1594	1623
The Two Gentlemen of Verona	1589-1593	1623
King John	1590-1595	1623
Henry VI, Part 1	1590-1592	1623
Henry VI, Part 2	1591	1594
Henry VI, Part 3	1592	1595
Venus and Adonis	1593	1593
Richard III	1593	1597
The Taming of the Shrew	1593-1594	1623
Titus Andronicus	1593-1594	1594
The Rape of Lucrece	1594	1594
Romeo and Juliet	1594	1597
Love's Labours Lost	1594	1598
The Sonnets	1594	1609
Richard II	1595	1597
A Midsummer Night's Dream	1595	1600
The Merchant of Venice	1596	1600
Henry IV, Part 1	1596	1598
Henry IV, Part 2	1597	1600
The Merry Wives of Windsor	1597	1602
Much Ado About Nothing	1598	1600
As You Like It	1599	1623
Julius Caesar	1599	1623
Henry V	1599	1600
Hamlet	1600	1603
Troilus and Cressida	1600-1603	1609
Twelfth Night	1601	1623
All's Well That Ends Well	1601-1602	1623
Othello	1602-1603	1622
Measure for Measure	1603	1623
Timon of Athens	1604-1606	1623
King Lear	1605	1608
Macbeth	1606	1623
Pericles	1606-1607	1609
Antony and Cleopatra	1607-1608	1623
Coriolanus	1608	1623
Cymbeline	1609	1623
The Winter's Tale	1609	1623
The Tempest	1610	1623
The Two Noble Kinsmen	1611	1634
Cardenio	1612	-
Henry VIII	1613	1623

Taking into account Pressley's warning regarding the potential for error in any chronological list of Shakespeare's works, it seemed his list was as good a one to begin with as the others I found on well-known websites such as, Britannica, Wikipedia and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Overall, his list did not vary much, if at all, from their chronological lists. As I am solely reading for my own pleasure, I don't believe it is necessary at this point to take a deeper dive into the chronology. So, I will begin my Shakespeare reading journey with The Comedy of Errors and proceed from there. Feel free to join me!

Works Cited

Pressley, J.M. "Shakespeare's Works: A Timeline." Shakespeare Resource Center. https://www.bardweb.net/plays/timeline.html accessed 17 Dec 2024.