How to use this book -- Life of William Shakespeare -- Shakespeare in his time -- Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre -- Shakespeare's canon -- Shakespeare's language -- Works of Shakespeare -- History plays: Henry VI, part I -- Henry VI, part II -- Henry VI, Part III -- Richard III -- King John -- Edward III -- Richard II -- Henry IV, part I -- Henry IV, part II -- Henry V -- Henry VIII -- Comedies: Comedy of errors -- Taming of the shrew -- Two gentlemen of Verona -- Love's labour's lost -- Midsummer night's dream -- Merchant of Venice -- Merry wives of Windsor -- Much ado about nothing -- As you like it -- Twelfth night -- Troilus and cressida -- All's well that ends well -- Measure for measure -- Tragedies: Titus andronicus -- Romeo and Juliet -- Julius Caesar -- Hamlet -- Othello -- King Lear -- Macbeth -- Antony and Cleopatra -- Coriolanus -- Timon of Athens -- Romances: Pericles -- Cymbeline -- Winter's tale -- Tempest -- Two noble kinsmen -- Non-dramatic poetry: Narrative poems: Venus and Adonis -- Rape of Lucrece -- Phoenix and the turtle -- Lover's complaint -- Lyric poems: Sonnets -- Shall I die? -- Epitaphs -- Global Shakespeare -- Index -- Picture credits & acknowledgements.