Shakespeare

[Brownlie]

Seriously, are any of his sonnets readable?
For tortured rhyme, one only needs to look at:

Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea,
But sad mortality o'ersways their power,
How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea,
Whose action is no stronger than a flower?

His plays are fine as far as poetry goes. As drama, only Othello makes the cut. Hamlet makes me want to tear my hair out, while  only Troilus and Cressida is a play for all time.
And let' be clear - anyone can write beautiful poetry without the irritating constraints of standardised grammar or spelling. And by creating words as one goes along.
He did create some memorable characters and some great poetry, but so have others.

The veneration from Shakespeare, I contend, comes from the recency of Britain's cultural dominance. 
When Britain's star rose in the 19th and 20th centuries, the earliest credible writer (Chaucer - ha ha ha, Spenser's body of work was more modest, and let's be realistic - the Faerie Queene doesn't compare to the Commedia) in the English language was put on a pedestal as a way to claim cultural equality with Italy.
The remarkable fact is that the best writing in English - any genre - came after the 19th century and accelerated in the 20th as English became the new Latin.

 
I don't know what the best stuff is, but you must be a'glue sniffin' if you think Shakes aint pretty good. That line up there seems pretty good. What about the richard plays or whatever and the Titus andronicus with the Anthony Hopkins (aka the cannibalistic welshman) telling the stones that they are the perfect subjects (and the dinner.)

Spenser Also equal super genius, but his stuff is so xenophobic you'll think you're reciting Arian ballads at a kluxers labor day bbq. Shakespeare's drama is good enough for people to waste time interpreting it.