why is william shakespeare called the "universal poet"?

Question

hope you can help me on this..thanks! please include sources also if u have...=)

Answer 1

Because his themes apply to humankind for all ages meaning he writes with universal appeal. The problems and the themes he writes about have been and always will be part of human nature. Therefore they are timeless and "universal."

Chow!!

Answer 2

Ben Jonson, a contemporary of Shakespeare, wrote that he (Shakespeare) "wrote not for an age, but for all time." I believe Jonson meant that Shakespeare relates all human emotion, and is therefore not limited just to his own day and but to all time and all places. Hence -universal.