Abstract
Shakespeare’s plays and poems have had, and continue increasingly to have, a major impact on many areas of human life. Fellow poets from Ben Jonson onwards have written appreciatively of Shakespeare and have been inspired by him. Over the years, philosophers and thinkers of many nationalities have come under Shakespeare’s influence and written about him. The ‘Epilogue’ explains that Shakespeare can be appreciated and enjoyed in many different ways. The most obvious way to get to know him is to see his plays performed in the medium for which he wrote them, the theatre. To do so is to experience simultaneously the art of the playwright and the art of his interpreters.
