SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS WITH APPROXIMATE DATES

Shakespeare wrote no less than 37 (thirty seven) plays. “LOVE’S

LANOUR’S LOST” was probably his first original production. He also wrote a
number of sonnets of immaculate beauty and also two poems entitled “VENUS AND
ADONIS” & “LUCRECE”.

Shakespeare’s plays are usually grouped in 4 (four) periods. During the

first period (1588 – 1595) he was, as Dowden says “in the workshop”, where he
served his apprenticeship with Dramatic Muse. The second period (1596 – 1601)
saw him, in the language of Dowden, “in the world”, by which time he became an
exponent of human life and nature. Professor Dowden names the third period
(1601 – 1608) as Shakespeare “Out of the Depths”. But the dramaturge was not so.
On the contrary, he went down into the abysmal depths of darkness of human life
and became so bitter as to say “Life is a tale sold by an idiot full of sound and fury
signifying nothing” (Macbeth). It was during this period that he wrote such plays as
HAMLET, OTHELLO, KING LEAR, MACBETH, ANTONY AND CLEOPETRA etc, which may
easily tempt a critic to call him a playwright with wooful countenance. But
ultimately Shakespeare recovered and found himself, after darkness came light and
was, so to speak, heavenly light with all its splendour. So during the fourth period
(1608 – 1612) he was, as Dowden observes, “on the heights”.

A list of Shakespeare’s plays with approximate dates is given Below.

Play
Year
1590 - 91 Henry VI
1591 - 92 Henry VI
1592 - 93 Richard III & Commedy of Errors
1593 - 94 Titus Andronicus & Taming of the Shrew
1594 - 95 Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love’s Labour’s
Lost & Romeo and Juliet
1595 - 96 Richard II & Midsummer Night’s Dream
1596 - 97 King John & The Merchant of Venice
1597 - 98 Henry IV
1598 - 99 Much Ado about Nothing & Henry V
1599 - 1600 Julius Caesar, As You Like It & Twelfth Night
1600 - 01 Hamlet & Merry Wives of Windsor
1601 – 02 Troilus and Cressida
1602 - 03 All’s Well That End’s Well
1604 - 05 Measure for Measure & Othello
1605 - 06 King Lear & Macbeth
1606 - 07 Antony and Cleopatra
1607 - 08 Coriolanus & Timon of Athens
1608 - 09 Pericles
1609 - 10 Cymbeline
1610 - 11 Winter’s tale
1611 - 12 Tempest
1612 - 13 Henry VIII & Two Noble Kinsmen