My Favourite Shakespeare Sonnet

Sonnet 29 is my favourite Shakespeare sonnet. What's your favourite?
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[@tyronebiggums8660]

Sonnet 29 is probably my favorite poem of all time! I’ve had it memorized since I was a schoolboy and will continue to have it memorized for the rest of my life. Though it’s only fourteen lines, I’ve cried countless times when reading it. The couplet at the end is so triumphant, grand, magical, and beautiful; it is perhaps the greatest couplet in the history of the world.

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

I heartily agree with you, Tyrone :)

[@tombrennan8372]

Mine too. Beautifully written and so full of hope despite its many complaints.

[@stephenmarmer543]

My twelfth grade English teacher required us to memorize and recite the first 12 lines of the Canterbury Tales in Chaucer’s English and a Shakespeare sonnet of our choice. I chose 29. I remember both assignments to this day. But here is the punch line. When my daughter took a Shakespeare course at university she was asked to pick a sonnet to write about. She too selected 29 without having known about my high school assignments. It is surely one of the greatest that continues to speak to me.

[@IReadAndIKnowThings]

I thought I had seen all of your videos, but I must’ve skipped this one as I hadn’t read the sonnet yet. Needless to say, I read Sonnet XXIX for the first time (4x) today and saw this video on my nightly KZbin survey. Phenomenal. Amazing analysis/review of this amazing poem. I think today marks the day that I fell in love with poetry.

[@willmpet]

#29 is my favorite too. I recently sent it to my daughter! It starts out sad but changes instantly to a positive attitude. It lifts me as much as the quote I often use from Lewis Thomas, “you’d think we’d never stop dancing”. It is a wonderful statement on life!

[@clemenciarodner2339]

How funny, wonderful, what magical serendipity finding the video, Benjamin! My very same favorite Sonnet! I ´ve owned it since I was 16. Thanks.

[@cs3742]

Yes, I did memorize it, and sometimes repeat it to a special friends.

[@peggyleeder3278]

I really love this explanation of 29 my favorite sonet ..thank you so much..loved it

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Aw, thank you, Peggy :)

[@kieran_forster_artist]

Brilliant, Ben, you bring it all back to me, those pre psychiatry days when I studied the Bard for a year….thank you

[@silviafrassineti5214]

Sonnet 29 is my favorite too. I read and I knew the end of my novel.

[@shylanambiar4316]

Sonnet 73: “where late the sweet birds sang…” Also the unforgettable Sonnet 18: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”😊

[@corbentaylor7825]

My favourite sonnet too. Love Al Pacino's reading of it.

[@namtellectjoonal7230]

My favourite is number 130 At first I just thought it was kinda shady and funny but the more I read it, it's incredibly sweet and intelligent. The first few lines seem like he's insulting and mocking her, saying she's not as beautiful like the sun, corals, snow or roses. But the last two lines clarify that he doesn't dislike her at all, that he loves her dearly and that she doesn't need to meet those lofty goals, generations of love poets have set (him in the past included) to win his affections. He criticizes a whole genre that has lifted their subjects too high to the point of lying and making false comparisons, raising the standards of beauty to the absurd. He says: yes, my mistress doesn't look like your poems say she should. So what? As a person who doesn't fit conventional beauty standards, this sonnet has very personal meaning to me and maybe I'm not even interpreting it completely correctly but in my eyes it's incredibly powerful.

[@Unherdmelody]

Loved your analysis. In my case too, 29 was the first sonnet that really "struck" me with the raw force of literary genius that is Shakespeare. Perfect harmony between form and content, endlessly relatable and true to life ("With what I most enjoy contented least" is a baffling paradox and yet so unfortunately accurate). Saying that, if I was compelled to choose my four favorite sonnets, 29 wouldn't be in the list perhaps hahaha. It was encountering 129, 138, 147, 149 (at a time they flawlessly mirrored my lived reality) that truly opened me up to what made Shakespeare one of the greatest poets ever to live. They all had the sublime simplicity of 29, while also exploring philosophical and emotional complexities better than entire novels could. Thanks for reigniting my passion for these gems. Looking forward to exploring your channel in greater detail :)

[@tyronebiggums8660]

Love 147 too

[@mikehutton9178]

As an older man: “That time of year thou mayest in me behold…”

[@encompass6857]

This is my favourite sonnet commentary so far!

[@BenjaminMcEvoy]

Thank you! I'm so happy you enjoyed it :)

[@vertalen]

A lovely sonnet. It might be helpful to point out that the adjective 'bootless' means useless, without producing a result. Also 'haply' means 'by chance', 'by luck', i.e. fortunately.

[@helpyourcattodrive]

Great.

[@peskylisa]

UGH! Titus Andronicus gave me nightmares! Seriously, I was studying it in university and OMG! My favorite play is actually Othello. It was also the only one I read completely on my own with no course outline or study guide. I just wanted to. Hey, we could learn something from Mr Shakespeare.

[@reaganwiles_art]

I am convinced (amateur that I am) by Alexander Waugh's exegesis of the Sonnets. And of his Oxfordian opinions (evidence).

[@timothyharris4708]

Oh, dear. The man is a charlatan - Waugh, I mean.

[@reaganwiles_art]

@@timothyharris4708 well, even if he's just a sort of Willy Wonka, he is entertaining

[@timothyharris4708]

@@reaganwiles_art Yes, rather in the manner of Boris Johnson: fast-talking, seemingly charming, with deceptions spilling from his mouth; and in the end, of course, it is not entertaining at all. It is merely wrong, and has been demonstrated to be so on a number of occasions. The so-called 'Shakespeare controversy' had died down since it is obviously wrong if one bothers to examine the evidence, and the serious books on the matter available, but then the internet came along and gave it a new lease of life by providing a ready platform for conspiracy-mongers -- as well, of course, as for better things.

[@timothyharris4708]

I should put among my favourites Sonnet 73 ('That time of year...'), Sonnet 20 ('A woman's face...', for its humour), Sonnet 126 ('O thou my lovely Boy...'), Sonnet 129 (The'expence of Spirit...', whose rhythm reproduces that of the male orgasm, and its aftermath) & Sonnet 138 ('When my love swears...' for its wry complaisance). There are many other favourites.

[@ancanenov9735]

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