Now, a Shakespearean Moment

William Shakespeare created some of the most influential and enduring works in history. Though he died nearly four hundred years ago, he remains the most widely performed playwright in the world.

But for many readers it is Shakepseare's sonnets that speak most directly to the heart and mind.

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste.
Then can I drown an eye unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,
And moan th' expense of many a vanished sight.
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoanèd moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
All losses are restored, and sorrows end.

Jane Alexander reads Sonnet 30

This Shakespearean Moment was created by the National Endowment for the Arts.