I would recommend Shakespeare's Sonnets to start
@reepbot, not as complicated, very beautiful
And the Link I provided with Hamlet quote.....you can read all of Shakespeare's works there free, and with modern English versions alongside if you need it
The language of the plays is poetry, so reads beautifully as well as plays beautifully. I used to listen to recordings of the plays when I was in high school. I am part geek, part rebel
So I was sneaking out getting drunk at 14, reading Shakepseare
Studying King Lear changed my life.....I used to call Mum Lear, my evil twin sisters Goneril and Reagen - nasty sisters/daughters in the play, and it gave me relief, and they never knew what it meant.
Lear and Romeo & Juliet are my favourites..............and Hamlet for just the speeches
So many modern stories are based on Shakespeare plots and characters - thus the writing study.
He also covers every single human emotion.
Read the Romeo & Juliet, prologue and final speech they are beyond beautiful, give me shivers.
And.....what about the Greeks? Have you studied/read any of the Greek classics?
The plays?
Homer? THE FIRST NOVEL
For a good reading list, writing education check out ENGLISH LITERATURE degree lists, creative writing lists
CURTIN UNI, WA, is well advanced in writing degrees, and TIM WINTON is an alumni.
I did a couple of subjects there, amazing, difficult, entire history of Western literature.....
Begins with Bible, then Greeks.....and so on
What are you studying exactly?
Are you aware of how the English language has evolved and has been expressed?
I find it very odd you are not transfixed by Shakespeare, are you not aware.....?????
You can do this fun exercise to check how Shakespeare-ish your writing is here
Update: How Shakespearean Are You?
Reader, J Connolly, points to a
wonderful tool from Oxford Press. It's a "How Shakespearean are you?" meter. In it you copy and paste some text into the tool, then "your words will be compared with all the words used by Shakespeare in his plays and our verdict will be delivered on its Shakespearean content."
Click here
https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/08/26/how-shakespearean-are-you/