This came up in another topic, and as I love talking about Shakespeare, I figured I'd start a thread for him!

What are you favorite sonnets, your favorite plays?

My personal favorite sonnet is 130. Here's how it goes:

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.

- I love how he looks beyond appearances and says that while the one he loves may not be perfect or a traditional beauty, his love for her is as powerful as those with the most beautiful girlfriends in the world.

My favorite comedy is Much Ado About Nothing. I love the sparring between the two leads, Beatrice and Benedick - and I love that unlike some plays, the female star is just as clever as the male star. The romantic in me also loves that they get together in the end - the thin line between love and hate, eh?

My favorite drama is Hamlet. I know it's the one everybody has to study in school and to some it may be old hat, but there's a reason why students have to study it again and again. It is BRILLIANT. Hamlet's speeches are riveting, and the plot is compelling yet still has moments of joy (unlike some of his other tragedies). I can't get enough of this play.

My favorite history play is Henry V. It is excellent. The Saint Crispin's Day speech makes me choke up every time. The odds are 5 to 1, yet the English still pummel the French because they are the ones with heart. If only it worked like that in the real world! We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...

So, what are other people's favorites? Feel free to chime in!