The Complete Works is a collection of all the works of one artist, writer, musician, group, etc. Sometimes the Latin language equivalent, Opera Omnia, is used. For example, Complete Works of Shakespeare is an edition containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare.
Sometimes the complete works may be titled by a single word, "Works".
A "Complete Works" edition usually is accompanied with notes, introduction, biographical sketch, and other additional information.
A contrasting term is "selected works", which is a collection of works selected according to some criterion, e.g., by prominence, by being a representative selection, etc.
Famous quotes containing the words complete and/or works:
“Although those notes, in conformity with custom, come after the poem, the reader is advised to consult them first and then study the poem with their help, rereading them of course as he goes through its text, and perhaps after having done with the poem consulting them a third time so as to complete the picture.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“His character as one of the fathers of the English language would alone make his works important, even those which have little poetical merit. He was as simple as Wordsworth in preferring his homely but vigorous Saxon tongue, when it was neglected by the court, and had not yet attained to the dignity of a literature, and rendered a similar service to his country to that which Dante rendered to Italy.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)