Shakespeare

This is a chronological ordered list of Shakespeare’s plays extracted from The Shakespeare Book and The Complete Works of Shakespreare , grouped by types and periods:

Since they were written in Early Modern English 400 years ago, which is a bit different from Modern English, you will need a bit of help.

No Fear Shakespeare, side-by-side translation to Modern English
Language, Grammar (or ungrammatical)
Glossary, archaic words that no longer used or shifted in meaning
Some tips:
- Be familiar with the plot first, since those are plays, not intended for reading
- Read No Fear Translation instead
- Shakespeare’s writings are usually ungrammatical in favor of rhythm/meter
- Learn some common archaic words below

Common glossary

Glossary	Meaning
anon	soon
assay	to try
art	are
aught	anything
base	lower-class, unworthy, illegitimate
bawd	pimp, procurer of prostitutes
brave	handsome, well-dressed, confident, outstanding
caitiff	a wretched, pitiable person
character	handwriting
clepe	to call
coil	trouble, chaos
cozen	to cheat
dame	mistress, mother, senior woman
discourse	reason, capacity for reason
doff	to take off
dost	do
doth	does
eft	ready
‘ere	before
fain	glad, gladly
fair	beautiful
for	because
hast	have
hath	has
hark	listen
hence	from now on
hie	to hurry, to go quickly
hither	towards here
ill	bad, unskillful, inadequate, evil
kind	nature
kno	to acknowledge, to recognize
lay	to wager
let	to hinder, a hindrance
like	to please
mark	to notice, to pay attention to
mickle	much
moiety	a portion, a part
natural	a fool
or	before
out	all the way, fully
parlous	dangerous
practise	a trick
quality	nature, character
quit	to respond, to repay
sans	without
shre	a woman who speaks her mind (meant as an insult)
shrift	confession
spleen	anger, impulsiveness
stranger	foreigner
tall	strong, brave
thither	towards there
thou	ye/you, nominative/subjective
thee	you, oblique/objective
thy	your, genitive
thine	yours, possessive
thyself	yourself, reflexive
vein	humor, mood, lifestyle
wast	were
whence	from where
wherefore	why
will	desire, intention
yea	even