Greene's Groatsworth of Wit Bought with a Million of Repentance, a pamphlet, penned by Robert Greene, attacking the theatre community for the apparent abuse of intelligent playwrights. Shakespeare, it is thought by scholars, is alluded to in the pamphlet (spelling and punctuation modernized): "...an upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tiger's heart wrapped in a Player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blank verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Johannes fac totum, is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country." (The phrase "Tiger's heart in a Player's hide" parodies "O tiger's heart wrapped in a woman's hide", a line from Henry VI, Part III.) Afterwards, Greene's editor, Henry Chettle, published an apology to Shakespeare, apparently after Shakespeare complained (Spelling modernized): "...I am as sorry as if the original fault had been my fault because myself have seen his demeanor no less civil than he excellent in the quality he professes: Besides, divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing, whcich argues his honesty , and his facetious grace in writing, that approves his Art."
Venus and Adonis, printed by Richard Field. The poem, dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, as an appeal for patronage.
The Rape of Lucrece. Also dedicated to the Earl, the poem's wording indicates that Shakespeare had indeed gained Southampton as a patron.
Reopening of the public theatres in London after a number of outbreaks of the plague. This action allowed Shakespeare to continue writing plays.
Palladis Tamia: Wit's Treasury: "As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latins: so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage."
Printer William Jaggard publishes The Passionate Pilgrim, a collection of 20 poems, supposedly all by Shakespeare. However, only two of his sonnets and three poems from Love's Labour's Lost appear in the volume, and the playwright's name may have been used only to boost the book's sales figures.
Shakespeare's Sonnets, containing over 150 sonnets. Most curious, however, is the book's dedication- "To the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets Mr. W.H." This reference has puzzled scholars for centuries. (See Oscar Wilde)
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