The Complete Sonnets of William Shakespeare

By: William Shakespeare

Narrated by: Roscoe Lee Browne, Christopher Cazenove, Vanessa Redgrave, David Warner, Elliott Gould, Samantha Eggar, Robert Foxworth, Joel Grey, Juliet Mills, Roger Rees, Kelsey Grammer, Edward Herrmann, Patrick Macnee, Julian Sands, Jean Smart

The sonnets of William Shakespeare are among the most famous love poems in the English language. For sustained dramatic intrigue and sophistication of plot, these works are at least the equal of Shakespeare's greatest plays. Compelling, subtle, and intellectually rigorous—yet taut with intense emotion—each poem invites study, interpretation, and awe, from one generation to the next.

This recording presents them in their entirety, allowing a new generation to discover Shakespeare's emotional power, mastery of language, and insight into the human condition. Acclaimed actors from the past fifty years perform the entire sequence of 154 sonnets—along with "A Lover's Complaint" and selected songs—delivering the full range and power of virtuosity, emotional power and bristling intelligence that made Shakespeare great. Among the readers are Roscoe Lee Browne, Christopher Cazenove, Minnie Driver, Kelsey Grammer, Edward Herrmann, Patrick Macnee, Juliet Mills, Vanessa Redgrave, Jean Smart, Alfre Woodard, and Michael York.

Public Domain (P)1996 Phoenix Books, Inc

This is Wonderful!

Where does The Complete Sonnets of William Shakespeare rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I really like it and it's very different from our normal English so I would rated very high as above.

Who was your favorite character and why?

None!

Have you listened to any of the narrators’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

"Full collection of The Shakespeare's Sonnets."

Any additional comments?

Maybe a little bit of background music inside because only talking and talking for hours isn't very interesting.

Excellent reading from world-class actors!

Excellent reading from world-class actors, many of whom you'll know from stage and screen. I was particularly struck by Vanessa Redgrave, and Elliot Goldenthal; but they're all amazing!

Fits infinity in a couplet

I really haven't read Shakespeare's sonnets in any consistent way since high school (where I read less than twenty and memorized two). It was fascinating to read all 154 from first to last as a whole connected work. One really gets a sense that English is a tool which almost all of us use, many often play with, but only Shakespeare owned. The Bard could bend a word, fit infinity in a couplet and drop the whole universe on a period.

excellent cast

Shakespeare is to be heard rather than read.. Very enjoyable. Now back to Proust...

Nice cast and read with respect.

Shakespeare is meant to be heard not read if you truly want to learn how he thought.