Show of Hands

I was in his house in Stratford upon Avon. Mommy and Daddy had money. Nice digs! So he had the time to write I guess.

I like Christopher Marlowe better...

It's awesome, good source of wisdom.

Shakespeare + Laurence Oliver = totally awesome!

I have heard he might not have written many of his plays. Not sure whether to believe it or not.

I really loved shakespeare's play julius caesar! When my teacher announced that's is what we going to read are last semester I was ecstatic!

He is no god of English literature but he certainly is entertaining.

Both, kind of

Age, income, state, sex all seem to have about the same percentage. The only big difference is Rep vs Dem...I wonder why that is?

I've noticed many people who don't like it" just don't understand how complex and beautiful it is.

he's overrated if you don't know what is happening in the stories and think the message is what the teachers tell you in school

Of course republicans say he is overrated.

For those of you that say overrated, I would like to see you write plays using almost entirely iambic pentameter.

BORING.

But most cities have theaters that will stage classics now and then. No need to read em!

Accessible classics.

If you haven't read more than one or two of Shakespeare's works then you shouldn't be talking.

To be or not to be? That is the question.

too many thyes and thous

He actually didn't even write all the stories that say he's the author, he just took credit for them. *cough* *cough* overrated...

Answered yes just on his contributions to English alone. Say what you want about his stories (which I thought were usually great), he's an important guy!

When every high school studies you you are amazing

The more appropriate question would be 'who actually read Shakespeare?' I'm assuming that most of the 'no' votes are coming from people who didn't enjoy reading R&J in high school and never bothered to read any of his other, greater works

Hamlet...
Enough said. Great Book!!

Although Romeo and Juliet is a staple of high school English, I would urge anyone who said 'overrated' to read or see a production of one of his truly masterful works. Most scholars cite Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Richard III as his best works.

I initially voted overrated, then remembered the insane amount of contributions he made. The man invented over 1700 words.. Many of which we still use. Invincible, impartial, tranquil, gnarled, obscene, amazement. All Shakespeare.

It's easy to sound awesome when thou sentence doth no freakin sense make.

"No, sir, i do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but i do bite my thumb sir." Favorite quote ever

When you read it, it's confusing and strange. But when you hear it, it's brilliant.

You can call him overrated when you can write in sonnets and invent your own language and create THE universal themes that practically every story is based on...

Genius!

People say that Shakespeare is cliche and overrated but what they don't realize is that he IS the original. Many, many works of literature are based on his themes. It's the works that are more modern and contain HIS themes that we should call cliche.

I've only read Romeo and Juliet. I thought the plot in itself was overrated but the way he wrote it was amazing.

Bill only sets the bar and creates the foundation of all literature and theater in the Western Hemisphere, if not influencing all writings in the world since. How could anyone say overrated? Wow peeps, Comp 101, Lit 101, World History 101?

Probably the greatest writer to ever have lived

Anyone who voted overrated has neither appreciation nor the brain cells required for classical literature.

I thought Romeo and Juliet was overrated but once you think about it and see that the story is about young love and not true love and how well he was able to write teenagers you can enjoy it more

As I get older, my appreciation if his work goes up.

He stole most of his works from earlier writers, and none of his stories are particularly remarkable. They also have no literal or allegorical relevance to modern society.

some of his plays id view as a bit over rated, but most of them are so interesting and have spawned amazing quotes

He INVENTED words and phrases we still use today. Shakespeare is the man!!!

Mostly overrated. My favorite book is Hamlet though.

Shall thou Speak Against great omighty shaskphere

What fools these mortals be!

Charles and Mary Lamb have a book retelling all the stories. They used to tell them to the people who could not afford a ticket to the plays! Great book to get all the plots in understandable terms!

Just saying, Shakespeare may not have even been the William Shakespeare from Stratford upon Avon
There's actually a ton of evidence for it being someone else
So this question would include the works attributed to "Shakespeare"

If you say overrated, don't use any of the following expressions:

It's Greek to me/Forever and a day/We have seen better days/My minds eye/Off with his head/Love is blind/What is in a name/He eats me out of house and home /I won't budge an inch

I don't like him because I don't care for his works. While they are well written, they simply don't interest me, and for that reason I hate reading them.

shall I compare thee to a summers day? thou art more lovely and more temperate. rough winds do shake the darling buds of may, and summers lease hath all too short a date. sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines and often is his gold complextion dimmed.... that's all I have memorized.

His words can have so many other meaning besides what is just written on the paper and it is beautifully written. An excellent high school English teacher spending weeks on one play has made me a true fan. It was my favorite semester of high school by far.