Sonnet II

The Sonnet Sessions continue... You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, or by email at [email protected]. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or download direct from Libsyn. William Shakespeare, Sonnet II When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, Thy youth's proud livery so gazed on now, Will be a totter'd weed of small worth held: Then being asked, where all thy beauty lies, Where all the treasure of thy lusty days; To say, within thine own deep sunken eyes, Were an all-eating shame, and thriftless praise. How much more praise deserv'd thy beauty's use, If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of mine Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse,' Proving his beauty by succession thine! This were to be new made when thou art old, And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold. Music clips: Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Fantasia on Greensleeves“, from Sir John in Love, opera adapted from William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1928 (Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy) Nino Rota, “Sarabande” from soundtrack to Zeffirelli’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, 1967 (Columbia Pictures, US / Italy) orchestra conducted by Carlo Savina