Here's a breakdown:
Plays:
* Comedies: These are plays full of humor and often end happily, with themes of love, mistaken identity, and clever tricks. Examples include *A Midsummer Night's Dream*, *As You Like It*, and *Twelfth Night*.
* Tragedies: These plays explore serious themes like ambition, fate, and the consequences of human actions. They often end in tragedy, with the protagonist facing a downfall. Famous examples include *Hamlet*, *Romeo and Juliet*, and *King Lear*.
* Histories: These plays dramatize events from English history, often focusing on the lives of monarchs and their struggles for power. Examples include *Richard III*, *Henry V*, and *Macbeth*.
* Romances: These plays are a blend of comedy, tragedy, and romance, with magical elements and a focus on redemption and forgiveness. Examples include *The Winter's Tale*, *Cymbeline*, and *Pericles, Prince of Tyre*.
Poems:
* Sonnets: These are 14-line poems with a specific rhyme scheme and meter. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets that explore themes of love, beauty, time, and mortality.
* Long narrative poems: These include *Venus and Adonis* and *The Rape of Lucrece*, which are epic poems that tell stories from mythology and history.
So, while he technically wrote "books," we usually refer to his works as plays and poems.