Why not celebrate Shakespeare Week (21-27 March) and the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth (and death) on April 23rd by taking a deep dive into The Bard’s sonnets?

By turns cheeringly familiar and strikingly subversive, Shakespeare’s Sonnets endure due to their ability to participate in mainstream discourses of love whilst simultaneously rewriting ideas about romance, sexuality and desire in ever impressive and original ways.

Weary with Toil (Sonnet 27) - William Shakespeare - Read by Rosamund Pike
Sonnet 20: A woman’s face - William Shakespeare - Read by James Fenton
Is it thy will thy image should keep open (Sonnet 61) - William Shakespeare - Read by Simon Callow

Sonnet 36

Read by Don Paterson
Sonnet 36 - William Shakespeare - Read by Don Paterson

Sonnet 12

Read by Andrew Motion
Sonnet 12 - William Shakespeare - Read by Andrew Motion
Let me not to the marriage of true minds… (Sonnet 116) - William Shakespeare - Read by James Fenton
Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun - William Shakespeare - Read by Daniel Radcliffe

Sonnet 143

Read by Fiona Sampson
Sonnet 143 - William Shakespeare - Read by Fiona Sampson
Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion’s paws… (Sonnet 19) - William Shakespeare - Read by James Fenton
Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day (Sonnet 18) - William Shakespeare - Read by Ian McKellen
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