William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous literary figure of all time. But what some may not realize is that Stratford-upon-Avon's favorite son was not only a skilled playwright, but one of the most accomplished poets to ever walk the earth.

Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 in the aforementioned Stratford-upon-Avon, England to Mary Arden and John Shakespeare. Historical evidence strongly suggests that his father could not read or write.

(at this point you'll want to perform a google search for the poet's name with the word "poems" added to the end, so that you can get some analytical info on the poet's writing style, etc...)

Shakespeare is credited with writing 154 love sonnets, including one of his most famous pieces, entitled "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day" (Sonnet #18). As their names suggests, these sonnets were characterized by their 14 lines of text and their iambic pentameter, which refers to lines that are ten syllables long, with accents falling on every second syllable.

Here's the complete "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day":

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

For more information on William Shakespeare, simply search Google.com for "William Shakespeare Poems"