Shakespeare & Beyond

Sonnet 116 is one of Shakespeare’s most famous love sonnets. Take our quiz to see if you can put the lines of the sonnet in the correct order.

The word “love” appears 2,146 times in Shakespeare’s collected works (including a handful of “loves” and “loved”). Add to that 59 instances of “beloved” and 133 uses of “loving” and you’ve got yourself a “whole lotta love.” So, what does…

Shakespeare quotes can seem like good choices for Valentine’s Day cards, but his tales of love are nuanced and complicated.

Thomas Coryate (c. 1577-1617) was one of the most widely traveled Englishmen of his day, motivated by curiosity, wanderlust, and fame. He served as a fascinating example of how early modern English travelers to the Islamic world might use their…

Can you identify what’s happening in each of these three scenes from Hamlet? The drawings by British illustrator John Jellicoe are part of the Folger collection.

Women played a key role in creating, promoting, and ultimately undermining “Vortigern” and William Henry Ireland’s other Shakespeare forgeries.

From new podcasts to online events, theater companies are creating great new ways to engage with Shakespeare and other amazing writers.

Take this quiz to see if you can identify the odd one out in each set of characters for a specific Shakespeare play.

The curious and complicated history of the 16th-century play “The Lamentable Tragedie of Locrine” prompts interesting conversations about the Shakespeare canon and its apocrypha.

Shakespeare & Beyond readers may remember author Ian Doescher’s announcement here in December 2019 that he would be reading through all of Shakespeare’s works in 2020, inviting anyone interested to join him. Many of our readers said yes! We asked…

Revisit the bright spots of 2020 by taking a look at some of our most popular #FolgerFinds posts on Instagram from the past year. Highlights from the Folger collection include a beautiful book binding, a striking costume design, and a…

The story of the Globe Theatre’s beginnings is one of intrigue, legal hairsplitting, holiday opportunity, and the disassembly of another playhouse.