How many songs did shakespeare write?

Answer 1

Shakespeare wrote a number of song lyrics which were imbedded in various plays. They have been set to music by various musicians from Thomas Morley to the Barenaked Ladies. As You Like It contains a number of great songs such as "It was a Lover and His Lass", "Under the Greenwood Tree" and "Blow, blow thou Winter Wind." "Who is Sylvia" from the Two Gentlemen of Verona is a Famous Lyric. Twelfth Night has "Come, come away death", "The Rain it Raineth Every Day" (reprised in King Lear), and "O Mistress Mine". "The Willow Song" from Othello, "Full Fathom Five" and "Where the Bee Sucks" from The Tempest, "Fear No More the Heat o' the Sun" from Cymbeline, "Tell Me Where is Fancy Bred" from Merchant of Venice are others. Shakespeare must have written more than three dozen songs for his plays.

The sonnets are not songs. They were not meant to be sung and are rarely set to music. Iambic pentameter is not easy to set to music.