william shakespeare's life william shakespeare's late romances william shakespeare's plays shakespeare is an english writer uniquely considered to be the greatest writer in the english language and in the english speaking world including his given name whilst discussing any aspect of him and his work is unnecessary customarily the surname by itself is used to refer not only to the man but his works most of these articles were started using the surname only as per custom in the shakespearean community but several editors unfamiliar with the topic and who almost exclusively edit with bots misguidedly changed them