16th-century English dramatists and playwrights

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.

English dramatist, poet and translator (1564–1593)

English playwright, poet, and actor (1572-1637)

16th/17th-century English dramatist, poet, and translator

English dramatist

English Elizabethan pamphleteer and poet

English dramatist and pamphleteer

English playwright, poet and dramatist (c.1553/4-1606)

English author (1558-1592)

English writer known for plays, poems and a collection of proverbs (1497-1580)

English writer 1575?-1634

English writer and dramatist (1557–1625)

16th/17th-century English playwright, actor, and author (1574–1641)

English politician and poet (1536-1608)

English poet and dramatist (1556-1596)

English playwright and miscellaneous writer

English writer, poet, politician and ambassador (1568-1639)

English lawyer, politician and writer of verse (1532-1584)

Anglican bishop in Ireland

English poet, dramatist and composer

English playwright

English writer

English noblewoman and translator (1537–1578)

English composer, dramatist, actor, and poet

British writer

English writer

English satirist

Elizabethan dramatist

16th-century English playwright and writer

English dramatist (died 1599)

English dramatist

English writer