The Final Couplet Podcast By Theo Cowan cover art

The Final Couplet

The Final Couplet

By: Theo Cowan
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Join me, Theo Cowan, as I desperately attempt to work out what the hell William Shakespeare was going on about in all those sonnets. Don't worry, I create stupid little stories to accompany each one so you don't get too bored.Theo Cowan Art
Episodes
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 142
    Mar 22 2026

    Shakespeare tells his lover that they both sleep with other people's partners and that's OK!


    Sonnet 142

    Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate,
    Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving.
    O, but with mine compare thou thine own state,
    And thou shalt find it merits not reproving;
    Or if it do, not from those lips of thine,
    That have profaned their scarlet ornaments
    And sealed false bonds of love as oft as mine,
    Robbed others’ beds’ revenues of their rents.
    Be it lawful I love thee as thou lov’st those
    Whom thine eyes woo as mine importune thee:
    Root pity in thy heart, that, when it grows,
    Thy pity may deserve to pitied be.
    If thou dost seek to have what thou dost hide,
    By self-example mayst thou be denied.



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    20 mins
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 141
    Mar 15 2026

    Shakespeare is slowly unravelling - he says his eyes, nose, and taste hate his lover but his heart loves her. I try and work out what the hell that means!


    Sonnet 141

    In faith, I do not love thee with mine eyes,
    For they in thee a thousand errors note;
    But ‘tis my heart that loves what they despise,
    Who, in despite of view, is pleased to dote;
    Nor are mine ears with thy tongue’s tune delighted,
    Nor tender feeling, to base touches prone,
    Nor taste, nor smell, desire to be invited
    To any sensual feast with thee alone:
    But my five wits nor my five senses can
    Dissuade one foolish heart from serving thee,
    Who leaves unswayed the likeness of a man,
    Thy proud heart’s slave and vassal wretch to be.
    Only my plague thus far I count my gain,
    That she that makes me sin awards me pain.

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    20 mins
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 140
    Feb 22 2026

    Shakespeare makes desperate attempt to try and make the dark lady love him. It's both pathetic and manipulative - classic Shakespeare.


    Sonnet 140

    Be wise as thou art cruel; do not press
    My tongue-tied patience with too much disdain;
    Lest sorrow lend me words, and words express
    The manner of my pity-wanting pain.
    If I might teach thee wit, better it were,
    Though not to love, yet, love to tell me so;
    As testy sick men, when their deaths be near,
    No news but health from their physicians know;
    For, if I should despair, I should grow mad,
    And in my madness might speak ill of thee;
    Now this ill-wresting world is grown so bad,
    Mad slanderers by mad ears believed be.
    That I may not be so, nor thou belied,
    Bear thine eyes straight, though thy proud heart go wide.

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    21 mins
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