During this period of lockdown a number of famous actors have chosen to read a Shakespearean Sonnet for our delectation. Indeed Sir Patrick Stewart undertook to read all 154 of the sonnets a day at a time. Others have performed them in support of various projects in order to keep the theatre before the public. I thought what better way to start a new working week than with a selection of our finest actors reading these beautiful lines of our greatest wordsmith. So let us begin with Sonnet 1 in the hands of Sir Patrick (Cool T Shirt).
Shakespeare’s sonnets are considered a continuation of the sonnet tradition that swept through the Renaissance from Petrarch in 14th-century Italy and was finally introduced in 16th-century England by Thomas Wyatt and was given its rhyming meter and division into quatrains by Henry Howard. With few exceptions, Shakespeare’s sonnets observe the stylistic form of the English sonnet—the rhyme scheme, the 14 lines, and the meter. But Shakespeare’s sonnets introduce such significant departures of content that they seem to be rebelling against well-worn 200-year-old traditions. They cover such themes as the passage of time, love, infidelity, jealousy, beauty and mortality.
Harriet Walter brings us Sonnet 18 as part of the Festival of Love. Paterson Joseph reads Sonnet 29 from the same Festival.
Finally, this is followed by Juliet Stevenson reading Sonnet 116.
I realise that the language does not neccesarily fall easily on the modern ear but give these words a chance and you will understand why they have stood the test of time.
