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hakespeare's Works

Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays and over 150 short and long poems, many of which are considered to be the finest ever written in English. His works have been translated into every major living language, and some others besides (the Folger's holdings include translations in Esperanto and Klingon), and nearly 400 years after his death, they continue to be performed around the world.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

The Folger has copies of every play, from the earliest printings to modern editions, and we offer carefully edited print and digital texts. Follow the links below for more information, including plot synopses, brief textual histories, and selected images from our collection.

Shakespeare plays and poems

Drawing by John Massey Wright of Helena and the Countess (Act 1 scene 3; late 18th or 19th century)
All's Well That Ends Well
Drawing by A. M. Faulkner of Cleopatra greeting Antony (1906)
Antony and Cleopatra
Photograph of Ada Rehan as Rosalind (1890)
As You Like It
Stuart Robson and William Crane as the two Dromios (Act 5, scene 1; 1888)
The Comedy of Errors
Painting by Richard Westall of Volumnia pleading with Coriolanus (Act 5, scene 3; c. 1800)
Coriolanus
Drawing by H.J. Ford of Posthumous and Imogen (late 19th century)
Cymbeline
Painting of William Salter Herrick of Hamlet in Gertrude’s chamber (Act 3, scene 4; 1857)
Hamlet
John Jack as Falstaff (late 19th century)
Henry IV, Part 1
Hal’s rebuke of Falstaff (Act 5, scene 5; 1795)
Henry IV, Part 2
Lewis Waller as Henry V (ca. 1910)
Henry V
Joan of Arc (late 18th or early 19th century)
Henry VI, Part 1
Margaret and Suffolk (act 3, scene 2; 1785)
Henry VI, Part 2