I have a pretty red-and-gold leather-bound book of Shakespeare's Sonnets (a fine find from a charity shop) which I keep by my bed. I have several times now set myself the challenge of reading a few a night, until I had read them all. It really hasn't worked. They ask more than my semi-somnolent mind can muster. How much better to listen with my ears than to try to comprehend with my tired, skimming-prone eyes. And how much better to hear the sonnets spoken by those who can give each word its proper weight, each phrase its richest cadence. I went looking, and here are just a few - even if it isn't your bedtime, enjoy!
(There is a luscious-looking app of all the sonnets read by actors-to-die-for, which I would love to take to bed, but as far as I can figure out, it's not for my computer or phone ... sigh.)
Ooh, lovely! That twinkle in Sir Patrick's eye...Alan Rickman is the perfect reader for 130, though I'd imagine it a bit more ironical in tone. Judi Dench... Wish I could have seen her as Paulina in The Winter's Tale. I saw her, when I was at school, in an RSC touring production in which she played Hermione and Perdita(she was a lot younger). Can you tell us the name of that app? Maybe it's for my computer...
Ooh, Alan Rickman! - I think I enjoyed his reading most. I preferred Judi Dench's reading of 'Let Me Not' to Patrick Stewart's. I thought his very act-or-ly and stage, but then, it's all a matter of taste. Great blog!
I have some of my favorites typed out and put on my walls at work! occasionally my pupils notice and ask, and I point out how much fun they are and how deep and raw they are or how funny and true, and they get it, but I only tell them they are Shakespeare sonnets once they get it.
I haven't tried that yet, Ruan, but I do have a short introduction to Shakespeare for my year 8 students that begins with a PowerPoint of words that come from Shakespeare and it's fun to hear them go, "Ooh!" and "Oh!" as the familiar words appear on the screen. I'm selective about the expressions because there are a lot of those that you and I know but which don't mean anything to them. I teach at a school in one of the less fancy suburbs of Melbourne and let them know that Shakespeare's plays were performed in a part of London a bit like where they live.
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Ooh, lovely! That twinkle in Sir Patrick's eye...Alan Rickman is the perfect reader for 130, though I'd imagine it a bit more ironical in tone. Judi Dench... Wish I could have seen her as Paulina in The Winter's Tale. I saw her, when I was at school, in an RSC touring production in which she played Hermione and Perdita(she was a lot younger). Can you tell us the name of that app? Maybe it's for my computer...
Tasty post! I think THIS is the link to the Shakespeare's Sonnets app!
Thanks, Caroline! It's compatible with my iPad, but the download is horrendous! Oh, well. Maybe I can delete something to make room.
Ooh, Alan Rickman! - I think I enjoyed his reading most.
I preferred Judi Dench's reading of 'Let Me Not' to Patrick Stewart's. I thought his very act-or-ly and stage, but then, it's all a matter of taste.
Great blog!
I have some of my favorites typed out and put on my walls at work! occasionally my pupils notice and ask, and I point out how much fun they are and how deep and raw they are or how funny and true, and they get it, but I only tell them they are Shakespeare sonnets once they get it.
I haven't tried that yet, Ruan, but I do have a short introduction to Shakespeare for my year 8 students that begins with a PowerPoint of words that come from Shakespeare and it's fun to hear them go, "Ooh!" and "Oh!" as the familiar words appear on the screen. I'm selective about the expressions because there are a lot of those that you and I know but which don't mean anything to them. I teach at a school in one of the less fancy suburbs of Melbourne and let them know that Shakespeare's plays were performed in a part of London a bit like where they live.
ooh, wonderful! I am bookmarking this to come back to!
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