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
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 139
    Feb 15 2026

    Shakespeare is head of over heals in love with the "dark lady" but her can see his love isn't necessarily reciprocated.


    Sonnet 139

    O! call not me to justify the wrong
    That thy unkindness lays upon my heart;
    Wound me not with thine eye, but with thy tongue:
    Use power with power, and slay me not by art,
    Tell me thou lov'st elsewhere; but in my sight,
    Dear heart, forbear to glance thine eye aside:
    What need'st thou wound with cunning, when thy might
    Is more than my o'erpressed defence can bide?
    Let me excuse thee: ah! my love well knows
    Her pretty looks have been mine enemies;
    And therefore from my face she turns my foes,
    That they elsewhere might dart their injuries:
    Yet do not so; but since I am near slain,
    Kill me outright with looks, and rid my pain.

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    22 mins
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 138
    Feb 8 2026

    Shakespeare talks about ageing and infidelity and LIES in this one. The relationship is getting spicy.


    Sonnet 138

    When my love swears that she is made of truth,
    I do believe her though I know she lies,
    That she might think me some untutored youth,
    Unlearned in the world's false subtleties.
    Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,
    Although she knows my days are past the best,
    Simply I credit her false-speaking tongue:
    On both sides thus is simple truth suppressed:
    But wherefore says she not she is unjust?
    And wherefore say not I that I am old?
    O! love's best habit is in seeming trust,
    And age in love, loves not to have years told:
    Therefore I lie with her, and she with me,
    And in our faults by lies we flattered be.

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    21 mins
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 137
    Jan 26 2026

    Shakespeare talks directly to love in this one and it's safe to say he isn't happy!


    Sonnet 137

    Thou blind fool, Love, what dost thou to mine eyes,
    That they behold, and see not what they see?
    They know what beauty is, see where it lies,
    Yet what the best is take the worst to be.
    If eyes, corrupt by over-partial looks,
    Be anchored in the bay where all men ride,
    Why of eyes' falsehood hast thou forged hooks,
    Whereto the judgment of my heart is tied?
    Why should my heart think that a several plot,
    Which my heart knows the wide world's common place?
    Or mine eyes, seeing this, say this is not,
    To put fair truth upon so foul a face?
    In things right true my heart and eyes have erred,
    And to this false plague are they now transferred.

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    23 mins
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 136
    Jan 18 2026

    Shakespeare continues using his name over and over again in order to make a point. The final couplet in this one hits different.


    Sonnet 136

    If thy soul check thee that I come so near,
    Swear to thy blind soul that I was thy Will,
    And will, thy soul knows, is admitted there;
    Thus far for love, my love-suit, sweet, fulfil.
    Will, will fulfil the treasure of thy love,
    Ay, fill it full with wills, and my will one.
    In things of great receipt with ease we prove
    Among a number one is reckoned none:
    Then in the number let me pass untold,
    Though in thy store’s account I one must be;
    For nothing hold me, so it please thee hold
    That nothing me, a something sweet to thee:
    Make but my name thy love, and love that still,
    And then thou lovest me for my name is ‘Will’.


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    20 mins
  • Shakespeare's Sonnet 135
    Jan 11 2026

    Shakespeare gets very sexual in this one. I've never heard so many innuendos in one poem - listener be warned!


    Sonnet 135

    Whoever hath her wish, thou hast thy Will,
    And Will to boot, and Will in overplus;
    More than enough am I that vex thee still,
    To thy sweet will making addition thus.
    Wilt thou, whose will is large and spacious,
    Not once vouchsafe to hide my will in thine?
    Shall will in others seem right gracious,
    And in my will no fair acceptance shine?
    The sea, all water, yet receives rain still,
    And in abundance addeth to his store;
    So thou being rich in Will add to thy Will
    One will of mine, to make thy large Will more.
    Let no unkind, no fair beseechers kill;
    Think all but one, and me in that one Will.

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    23 mins