Shakespeare's Sonnet 116: 'Let me not to the marriage of true minds' | Read by Juliet Stevenson

Juliet Stevenson reads William Shakespeare's Sonnet 116: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds."

#SouthbankCentre #NationalPoetryLibrary #williamshakespeare

Sonnet 116: Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

[MyDemocracy]

Impeccable beauty emoting immense love. Thank you for your mastery, Juliet Stevenson.

[traceya]

Thank you Juliet, for that very moving reading of Shakespeare Sonnet 116

[analemos]

My native language is not English, but Juliet Stevenson turns every book she reads into something I can actually understand from start to finish, effortlessly and brilliantly. If not for her, I think I'd be missing out many classics.

[Healthymuscles_gr]

The best reading. Juliet is British treasure. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[dewimacomber]

I love the way she recite the poem, very very beautiful

[BandPantheon]

My lord this is beautiful. Thank you for the great reading.

[BRIOXL]

you are awesome! love your voice and emotion, great version 

[jengentry]

Listening to her, if I close my eyes, I would swear I'm sitting next to Mrs Elton. Wonderfully done!

[annalisavajda]

Well this is my favourite of his I had it memorized years ago. I was at a wedding once and was told I needed to make a speech about the couple and nobody had told me so I just got up and recited this and it went over really well my friend said they thought I had planned to do that since I was known for poetry and public speaking. Noone else would recite Shakespeare off the top of their head like you they said lol.

[DATo_DATonian]

116 is my favorite. It is a testimonial sonnet to Love itself.

[hannahlyons]

I have to memorize this poem for a competition at school. I must recite it better than my random opponent to win. I'm going to memorize it exactly how she said it bc the way she did was so amazing

[PumpkinStrikesBack]

Look up "Shakespeare: original pronounciation" for the correct, originally intended proncounciation of "proved" (so it rhymes better with "loved").

[wonderworldabhi]

Loved your reading.... i really liked it

[yoru]

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.

O no, it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

[jogroe]

Sonnet 116 in Dutch



Laat mij toch geen beletselen verzinnen

Voor ware liefde; liefde houdt geen stand

Als zij verandert bij veranderingen,

Als zij bij elke kleine schipbreuk strandt.

O nee, zij is een baken, eeuwig licht,

Dat men zelfs in de zwaarste stormen ziet;

Een ster, waarnaar elk dwalend schip zich richt:

Men meet haar hoogte, maar haar waarde niet.

Zij is geen Nar des Tijds, al zal het rood

Van wang en lip ooit voor zijn zeis verbleken;

De liefde blijft bestaan tot aan de dood,

Zij taalt niet naar zijn uur en telt geen weken.

Als men hiertegen ooit bewijslast vindt,

Dan schreef ik nooit en werd geen mens bemind.

translation Arie van der Krogt

[jasminetotoh]

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

[HeyBerrie]

Not native speaker.. and I cannot understand this beauty of words, just super difficult and complex order of words for me🫣 instead of that.. I understand and enjoy complex harmony and polyphony that choral composers have composed with those words 😅

[JohnChampagne]

Imagine that Shakespeare was a front-man for Edward de Vere. De Vere had to write cryptically when he wrote love-letters to his son, love-child with the Queen, for fear of scandal and ruin.

Here is the Sonnet re-imagined, as if de Vere wrote as a ghost, to his son's ghost, 100 years later...:

My son, true love—like the bond between a father and his child—knows no obstacles.
Love doesn't waver when tested; it doesn't fade when circumstances change.
It stands as steadfast as a lighthouse, unwavering amidst life's storms.
Just as a star guides lost ships, though we can't measure its infinite worth,
So does true love endure, undiminished by life's trials or the ravages of time.

Time may take our youth, our physical beauty, but love remains,
Unaltered by the fleeting days and years,
Even when faced with life's greatest challenges, love perseveres.
Should anyone prove me wrong in saying this,
Then I would renounce all that I have written, all that I have felt in love.

[beingsshepherd]

Sounds as though she were reading bedtime story for children.

[emerald-ic]

This is the way i feel about my husband. We have been married for over thirty years. I found out he had a girlfriend for ten of them. I was broken, am broken. But i love him just like this...i can't alter because i have found alteration. I feel lucky to love like this, my love doesn't depend upon him being a certain way. It is "mine" to have. It's the way i love, it's not a reaction. I do wonder if I'm the only person to feel like this sometimes so if anyone should read this and identify please reply. Thankyou ❤