William Shakespeare was a playwright.
William Shakespeare . His extant works , including collaborations , consist of approximately 38 plays , 154 sonnets , two long narrative poems , and a few other verses , some of uncertain authorship . In his last phase , he wrote tragicomedies , also known as romances , and collaborated with other playwrights . In 1623 , however , John Heminges and Henry Condell , two friends and fellow actors of Shakespeare , published a more definitive text known as the First Folio , a posthumous collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare 's .