Bedste Shakespeares Sonnets-podcasts (2024)

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Sonnet 110: Alas, 'Tis True, I Have Gone Here and There 31:53

4d ago31:53

31:53

With his exceptionally candid and forthright Sonnet 110, William Shakespeare at once completes his apotheosis of his young lover, while at the same time confessing to him that yes, he too has had affairs with other people, but also reassuring him that these other lovers were no match for him and that they pale, compared to him, into insignificance,…

1
Sonnet 109: O Never Say That I Was False of Heart 29:44

11d ago29:44

29:44

Sonnet 109 is the first of two truly remarkable sonnets that speak of William Shakespeare's own infidelities towards his young lover during a period of prolonged absence. Although they do not form a strictly tied pair, together these two poems position our poet and his relationship in an entirely new light, because they for the first time genuinely…

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Sonnet 108: What's in the Brain That Ink May Character 29:25

18d ago29:25

29:25

With Sonnet 108, William Shakespeare loops back into sentiments expressed intermittently since Sonnet 76, but particularly again recently in Sonnet 105: I have essentially said it all, there is nothing I can do other than repeat and reiterate and rephrase the praises I have sung and continue to sing for you. What it also picks up from Sonnet 105 is…

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Sonnet 107: Not Mine Own Fears, Nor the Prophetic Soul 39:42

25d ago39:42

39:42

Of all the poems in the collection first published in 1609, Sonnet 107 most clearly and most compellingly seems to refer to external events that shape Shakespeare's world. Because of this, it takes up a pivotal position in the canon, since it may therein hold clues to both its date of composition and to the person it is addressed to. And while ther…

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Sonnet 106: When in the Chronicle of Wasted Time 29:32

1M ago29:32

29:32

Sonnet 106 sees Shakespeare return to eulogising his young lover in outwardly straightforward terms. And rather than looking ahead to times to come when his poetry will continue to pay tribute to his love long after both he and his lover have gone, as several of the other sonnets have done, he here casts his eye back to the past through the lens of…

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Sonnet 105: Let Not My Love Be Called Idolatry 24:49

1M ago24:49

24:49

Sonnet 105 presents a playful paradox that is no doubt fully intended on William Shakespeare's part. Addressing, for a change, not his young lover directly, but speaking to the world in general about him and about his love for him, he tells us that we should not see, and in seeing so by implication judge, this love as the worship of a human and the…

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Sonnet 104: To Me, Fair Friend, You Never Can Be Old 33:31

2M ago33:31

33:31

With his celebrated and much-debated Sonnet 104, William Shakespeare appears to set out to do primarily three things: first and foremost, to reassure his young lover that even now, after some appreciable time has passed since they first met, he, the young lover, is still as beautiful to him, our poet, as he was on the very first day; in other words…

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Sonnet 103: Alack, What Poverty My Muse Brings Forth 24:01

2M ago24:01

24:01

Sonnet 103 is the fourth and last in this group of four sonnets with which William Shakespeare seeks to excuse himself for not writing more poetry to, for, or about his young lover lately. Like the first two in the group, Sonnets 100 & 101 – which are so closely linked that we may treat them as a pair – this sonnet also references the poet's Muse, …

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Sonnet 102: My Love Is Strengthened Though More Weak in Seeming 29:31

2M ago29:31

29:31

With Sonnet 102, William Shakespeare returns to addressing his young lover directly, though still in explanation and indeed defence of the extended period of silence of which Sonnets 100 & 101 spoke, both of which were addressed to his own Muse, admonishing her for her absence. In contrast to those two poems, Sonnet 102 takes full responsibility fo…

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Sonnet 101: O Truant Muse, What Shall Be Thy Amends 28:32

2M ago28:32

28:32

Although at first glance Sonnet 101 can stand on its own, it so closely connects to Sonnet 100 that it really in all likelihood should be considered to form with it a pair within this group of four sonnets that they are both part of. Like Sonnet 100, it addresses itself to Shakespeare's Muse – his poetic inspiration – in a series of rhetorical ques…

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Sonnet 100: Where Art Thou, Muse, That Thou Forgetst So Long 31:58

2M ago31:58

31:58

Sonnet 100 is the first in a group of four sonnets that speak of a hiatus in Shakespeare's poetry writing to his young lover. In the collection first published in 1609, this follows Sonnets 97 and 98, which both highlight an absence from the young man that has felt to Shakespeare like winter, with Sonnet 99 acting as something of a bridge between t…

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Special Guest: Professor David Crystal – Original Pronunciation (OP) 1:21:46

3M ago1:21:46

1:21:46

In this special episode, Professor David Crystal OBE, one of the world's leading linguists with over 100 books to his name and a global reputation as a writer and lecturer on Early Modern English, talks to Sebastian Michael about Original Pronunciation (OP) – the way William Shakespeare and his contemporaries would have pronounced English at the ti…

1
Sonnet 99: The Forward Violet Thus Did I Chide 39:26

3M ago39:26

39:26

In the collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare published in 1609, Sonnet 99 is unique for two reasons that are possibly related: it is the only sonnet to consist of 15 lines instead of the usual 14, and it is the only sonnet that leans directly on a known source and can therefore be said to be a more or less direct reworking of an existing…

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Sonnet 98: From You Have I Been Absent in the Spring 29:57

3M ago29:57

29:57

When Sonnet 97 spoke of an absence from his lover that felt to Shakespeare "like a winter" even though it actually took place during the summer and/or autumn, Sonnet 98 speaks of either the same or a similar absence that took place during the springtime in April, which, however, on account of not having his lover around, to Shakespeare also seemed …

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Sonnet 97: How Like a Winter Hath My Absence Been 25:38

3M ago25:38

25:38

Sonnet 97 ushers in a new phase in the relationship between William Shakespeare and his young lover, which, following the upheaval, anguish, doubt, and direct criticism of the young man contained in the group that immediately precedes it, comes across as a series of almost serene reflections first, once again, on a period of separation in this sonn…

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Special Guest: Professor Abigail Rokison-Woodall – Speaking Shakespeare 51:48

4M ago51:48

51:48

In this special episode, Abigail Rokison-Woodall, Deputy Director (Education) and Associate Professor in Shakespeare and Theatre at The Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, UK, talks to Sebastian Michael about the challenges – and joys – of speaking verse in general and Shakespearean verse in particular: how do we do his language justic…

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Sonnet 96: Some Say Thy Fault Is Youth, Some Wantonness 26:09

4M ago26:09

26:09

With Sonnet 96 William Shakespeare concludes the extraordinary group of sonnets that deal with his young lover's infidelity. Easing off on the harsh criticism of the young man's behaviour voiced in Sonnet 95, he here brings in a new conciliatory tone which acknowledges that the young man's powers of attracting other people are great and that he cou…

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Sonnet 95: How Sweet and Lovely Dost Thou Make the Shame 27:04

4M ago27:04

27:04

With his astoundingly forthright Sonnet 95, William Shakespeare admonishes his young lover in the most uncompromising terms yet, and he rounds off his salvo with another stern warning that even someone as privileged and exalted as he can go too far. It forms the culmination of a progression in tone and stance that has been underway since Sonnet 87,…

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Sonnet 94: They That Have Power to Hurt and Will Do None 26:27

4M ago26:27

26:27

With Sonnet 94, William Shakespeare takes a step back from his discourse in poetry, addressed directly to his young lover, and reflects more broadly and apparently abstractly on a quality of mercy that ought not to be strained. The sonnet makes two at first glance almost separate observations, devoting the first eight lines – the octave – to an eth…

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Sonnet 93: So Shall I Live, Supposing Thou Art True 24:29

5M ago24:29

24:29

Sonnet 93 is the third of three sonnets that pivot William Shakespeare's stance towards his young lover from one of pure praise and adulation to one that not just questions his conduct and character, but begins to actively admonish him. It picks up directly from the closing couplet of Sonnet 92 and imagines a situation in which the young man is unf…

1
Sonnet 92: But Do Thy Worst to Steal Thyself Away 25:30

5M ago25:30

25:30

Sonnet 92 continues from Sonnet 91 and sets out a compelling – if perhaps strictly speaking somewhat sophistic – argument why the young man may, as the previous sonnet in its closing couplet considered to be a distinct possibility, leave Shakespeare whenever he feels like it, but without in doing so actually making him, Shakespeare, most wretched a…

1
Sonnet 91: Some Glory in Their Birth, Some in Their Skill 27:32

5M ago27:32

27:32

With Sonnet 91, William Shakespeare reclaims his place in the young man's favour, and for the first time in a while – in the published sequence since the group that contains Sonnets 71 to 76 – speaks primarily of how the young man's love privileges him, Shakespeare, above all else. It is for the most part a return to a happier, more confident, more…

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Sonnet 90: Then Hate Me When Thou Wilt, if Ever, Now 22:17

5M ago22:17

22:17

Sonnet 90 is the third of three poems that form a 'group within a group', purporting to accept, even support, any decision the young man may wish to take to leave his poet lover, for whatever reason he deems justified. Its principal message is straightforward: if you are going to leave me, then do it now, while everything else is going against me a…

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Sonnet 89: Say That Thou Didst Forsake Me for Some Fault 34:53

5M ago34:53

34:53

Sonnet 89 continues the line of argumentation set up with Sonnet 88 and expounds on the steps William Shakespeare is willing to take to demonstrate to his young man how fully he is prepared to subject himself to his will and to accept a termination of the relationship as perfectly within the young man's rights. In spelling out the things that Shake…

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Sonnet 88: When Thou Shalt Be Disposed to Set Me Light 22:08

6M ago22:08

22:08

Having bid his lover farewell in Sonnet 87 and effectively conceded that this young man is out of his league, starting with Sonnet 88, and stretching over the next two poems, Shakespeare sets the ground for a spirited fightback that will materialise properly in Sonnets 91 to 96. In its tone and its stance Sonnet 88 seems submissive, even self-debas…

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Sonnet 87: Farewell, Thou Art Too Dear for My Possessing 24:09

6M ago24:09

24:09

With its complete change in tone, Sonnet 87 ushers in a new and decidedly different phase in the relationship between William Shakespeare and his young lover. The sonnet draws on the vocabulary of law, ownership, and finance and in these largely factual terms Shakespeare appears to concede that the young man is simply out of his league: it is the m…

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Special Guest: Professor Gabriel Egan – Computational Approaches to the Study of Shakespeare 1:20:23

6M ago1:20:23

1:20:23

In this special episode, Gabriel Egan, Professor of Shakespeare Studies and Director of the Centre for Textual Studies at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK, talks to Sebastian Michael about computational approaches to the study of Renaissance literature in general and to Shakespeare's works in particular: what are the methodologies employed a…

1
The Rival Poet 48:14

6M ago48:14

48:14

Much has been written and said, speculated and surmised about the Rival Poet in William Shakespeare’s Sonnets, with hypotheses ranging from the idea that there was no ‘rival poet’ and that Shakespeare essentially made up this figure, through the notion that there was perhaps a rival or possibly several rivals but that Shakespeare is not writing abo…

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Sonnet 86: Was it the Proud Full Sail of His Great Verse 29:42

7M ago29:42

29:42

Sonnet 86 is the last of the Rival Poet group of sonnets, and it gives a final reason why William Shakespeare has, as he himself put it in Sonnet 85, become tongue-tied and been unable to express himself adequately in his praise of the young lover. Together with Sonnet 80 it bookends the group-within-a-group consisting of Sonnets 82 to 85 which tog…

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Sonnet 85: My Tongue-Tied Muse in Manners Holds Her Still 29:13

7M ago29:13

29:13

With Sonnet 85, William Shakespeare concludes the group-within-a-group of four sonnets that concern themselves with his own defence against the charge – evidently levied by his young lover – that his poetry is lacking in lavish expressions of praise and that 'imputes', as Shakespeare himself calls it in Sonnet 83, his silence, or, as it should more…

1
Sonnet 84: Who Is it That Says Most, Which Can Say More 23:24

7M ago23:24

23:24

With Sonnet 84, William Shakespeare continues and underpins his defence of himself against the charge, referenced explicitly in Sonnet 83, that he has failed to present his young lover with sufficiently effusive praise and instead remained silent about his unparalleled qualities: not only is it the case – as he told the young man there – that you d…

1
Sonnet 83: I Never Saw That You Did Painting Need 28:21

7M ago28:21

28:21

Sonnet 83 picks up on the notion, introduced in Sonnet 82, of a 'gross painting' in words that other poets make of the young man with the 'strained touches' that rhetoric can lend them, in stark contrast to Shakespeare's own 'plain true words'. But rather than forming a contained pair with Sonnet 82, it spins the argument further, now giving his re…

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Sonnet 82: I Grant Thou Wert Not Married to My Muse 26:43

8M ago26:43

26:43

With Sonnet 82, William Shakespeare resumes his discussion with the young man of his own status as a poet in the young man's life, attempting a conciliatory, even sympathetic tone which purports to encourage his lover to by all means have a look at other people's writing too, but draws the clearest distinction yet in this group between the authenti…

1
Sonnet 81: Or I Shall Live Your Epitaph to Make 29:28

8M ago29:28

29:28

Sonnet 81, although it appears right in the middle of the Rival Poet group of sonnets, does not concern itself with any poet other than Shakespeare at all, and so it either marks a detour deliberately taken by Shakespeare from his preoccupation with his rival, or it presents an instance in which a sonnet has in fact slipped from its position and be…

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Sonnet 80: O How I Faint When I of You Do Write 28:30

8M ago28:30

28:30

With his amazingly brazen Sonnet 80, William Shakespeare metaphorically pushes the boat out in more sense than one and comes close to mocking not only his rival, but also – albeit gently – his young lover whom he insinuates being drawn to this other writer not only by his compelling poetry but by a prowess of an altogether more physical nature too.…

1
Sonnet 79: Whilst I Alone Did Call Upon Thy Aid 29:52

8M ago29:52

29:52

With Sonnet 79, William Shakespeare continues his lament, begun with Sonnet 78, that he no longer enjoys the exclusive privilege of writing poetry to and for his young lover, constructing an – objectively speaking fairly tenuous – argument why the young man should not be overly grateful to this Rival Poet for his efforts. With a transactional tone …

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Sonnet 78: So Oft Have I Invoked Thee for My Muse 28:37

9M ago28:37

28:37

Sonnet 78 is the first in a group of nine sonnets that concern themselves almost entirely with the apparent arrival on the scene of someone else who is now writing poetry for Shakespeare's young lover, vying for his attention and possibly obtaining his patronage, which is why these poems are collectively known as the Rival Poet Sonnets. Strictly sp…

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The Halfway Point Summary 45:11

9M ago45:11

45:11

This special episode summarises what we have learnt so far from the first 77 sonnets by William Shakespeare. It recaps the principal pointers that allow us to put together a profile of the young man they were written for or about and outlines the phases of his relationship with our poet, and it also dismantles some of the misconceptions that are so…

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Sonnet 77: Thy Glass Will Show Thee How Thy Beauties Wear 26:13

9M ago26:13

26:13

The curiously didactic Sonnet 77 marks the halfway point of the collection of 154 sonnets contained in the 1609 Quarto Edition and it stands out for several reasons. What most immediately catches the eye is that it seems to be written into or so as to accompany a book of empty pages for its recipient to collect their thoughts and notes in a book of…

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Sonnet 76: Why Is My Verse so Barren of New Pride 23:07

9M ago23:07

23:07

The deceptively unsensational Sonnet 76 asks a simple question and provides to this a straightforward enough answer that will hardly come as a surprise: how is it that I write one sonnet after another and they all sound the same? Because "I always write of you." With this one declaration it settles a debate that – in view of its very existence baff…

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Sonnet 75: So Are You to My Thoughts as Food to Life 20:31

9M ago20:31

20:31

Sonnet 75 marks a moment of comparative calm in the turbulent relationship between William Shakespeare and his young lover. With its sober assessment of a continuously conflicted world of emotions that oscillate between abundant joy at being allowed to bask in the presence of the young man and utter dejection at missing him when he is absent, the s…

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Sonnet 74: But Be Contented When That Fell Arrest 27:17

10M ago27:17

27:17

Sonnet 74 continues the argument from Sonnet 73, and now reflects on what will happen when I, the poet, William Shakespeare, am dead. My body will be buried and return to earth, but my spirit will live on in this poetry that I write for you, the young man, which is why the loss you experience at my death will be insignificant: it only entails my pa…

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Sonnet 73: That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold 23:33

10M ago23:33

23:33

Sonnet 73 is the first in a second pair of poems to meditate on the poet's age and mortality and to reflect on the point of his very existence. But while Sonnets 71 & 72 focus on Shakespeare's reputation, which he perceives as poor and which he fears might also tarnish the young man were he to show his love and mourning for Shakespeare after his de…

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Sonnet 72: O Lest the World Should Task You to Recite 25:50

10M ago25:50

25:50

Sonnet 72 picks up on Sonnet 71 and explains why the supposedly 'wise' world would look down on the young man for having loved or for still loving Shakespeare after his death and why he should therefore forget him and allow the poet's name to pass into oblivion, along with his decomposing body in the grave. The sonnet reinforces and intensifies the…

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Sonnet 71: No Longer Mourn for Me When I Am Dead 21:55

10M ago21:55

21:55

Sonnet 71 is the first in a pair of poems which purport to urge the young man to forget the author after his death so as to spare him – the young man – any embarrassment or indeed mockery that having loved or still caring for the then deceased poet might cause him. Both sonnets, but Sonnet 71 in particular, strike an ironic tone, which nevertheless…

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Sonnet 70: That Thou Are Blamed Shall Not Be Thy Defect 28:35

11M ago28:35

28:35

With Sonnet 70, William Shakespeare once more performs the poetic equivalent of a handbrake turn and swivels what we thought we could understand from Sonnet 69 around 180 degrees to race headlong in the opposite direction. The charge levied against his young lover – that with his conduct he has been allowing himself to become 'common' and thus acqu…

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Sonnet 69: Those Parts of Thee That the World's Eye Doth View 24:41

11M ago24:41

24:41

Taken on its own, Sonnet 69 presents a devastating indictment of William Shakespeare's young lover. Its uncompromising juxtaposition of the young man's universally acknowledged beauty against his reputedly flawed character would be enough to put into question whether Shakespeare can still feel at all devoted to him: by itself, the poem is nothing s…

1
Sonnet 68: Thus Is His Cheek the Map of Days Outworn 26:20

11M ago26:20

26:20

Sonnet 68 continues the argument from Sonnet 67 and shifts the focus of Shakespeare's opprobrium from the fashion for heavy make-up to that for wearing wigs, a practice by him equally abhorred. Unlike Sonnet 67, Sonnet 68 seems to be virtually devoid of any puns or double meanings that would resonate with us, and so although these two sonnets come …

1
Sonnet 67: Ah, Wherefore With Infection Should He Live 31:28

11M ago31:28

31:28

Sonnet 67 picks up on the deeply dissatisfied mood of Sonnet 66 and develops the theme of a world that has lost its way right through Sonnet 68. On the surface, Sonnets 67 & 68 concern themselves entirely with the then new fashion – much scorned by Shakespeare – for heavy make-up and big wigs and their wearers' futile endeavours to endow themselves…

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01 – Chapters 001-025 21:45

12M ago21:45

21:45

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