Likewise, when writing a dissertation that approaches Shakespearean content, the literature review is just as relevant, or even more so, than any other review for the sciences, for example. He was in his mid-20s. How many short poems did william shakespeare write in his lifetime? They have inspired many Shakespeares Sonnets are some of the most fascinating and influential poems written in English. A number of song lyrics are also attributed to him. He published 154 sonnets and a bunch more are imbedded in the plays. Yet his poems are not nearly as recognizable to many as the characters and famous monologues from his many plays. William Shakespeare's name is synonymous with many of the famous lines he wrote in his plays and prose. A plague ravaging the country forced the closure of most public places, including theaters, offering him ample time to develop his poems. Indicating a time of apprenticeship, these plays show a more direct debt to It is not known how he got started in the theatre or for what acting companies he wrote his early plays, which are not easy to date. William Shakespeare - William Shakespeare - Shakespeares plays and poems: Shakespeare arrived in London probably sometime in the late 1580s. This is due to much of the emphasis placed on his text in English literature and the many pieces of work available addressing key textual arguments and concerns. William Shakespeare wrote poems between 1593 and 1594. First published in 1609, in a small quarto edition (roughly the size of a modern paperback), almost nothing is known about the poems composition.But the Sonnets have been read, recited, reprinted and written about ever since their first appearance.