Shakespeare produced most of hiswork between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were
comedies andhistories genres he raised to the peak of sophistication andartistry
by the end of the 16th century. He then wrote tragediesuntil about 1608,
including Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, andMacbeth, considered some of the finest
works in the Englishlanguage. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also
known asromances, and collaborated with other playwrights.
Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his time,and his reputation
reached still greater heights in the 19thcentury. The Romantics, in particular,
acclaimed Shakespearesgenius, and the Victorians worshipped Shakespeare with a
reverencethat George Bernard Shaw called bardolatry. In the 20th