Have You Read All Of Shakespeare?

I wonder… how many people would you guess have read everything contained in a volume of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare? All 37 plays, all 154 sonnets, A Lover’s Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim, Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, and The Phoenix and the Turtle.

I’d imagine not many have. I’ll admit that I haven’t, but I’m working on it. I’ll be there soon! I keep putting off reading certain things which is rather silly of me. Do you know anyone who has? Have you? If so, do you brag about it often? I know I will as soon as I finish! Well maybe not often, but I’ll brag every now and then. It’s fun to brag.

More importantly, what insights, understanding, and wisdom do you think one gains from reading all of Shakespeare’s works in comparison to reading just the popular ones? If you’ve read most of them you’re also welcome to answer the question.

Having read MOST of the works I enjoy seeing similar passages, images, or situations in multiple plays. I say “Oooh, that’s kind of like when X says Y in the play Z!” There are a lot of other happy happenings from reading most or all of Shakespeare, but I’d like to hear your thoughts.