Audiobook · read by volunteers
À Personal Anthology of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Read by Martin Clifton · 20 chapters · 33 min
About the book
Some speeches stay with us whether or not we have seen the play. All the world's a stage. To thine own self be true. What light through yonder window breaks. In this personal anthology, a single reader gathers twenty passages from Shakespeare that he enjoys reading aloud, the kind of lines he wishes he had learned by heart years ago. They range from comedy to tragedy, from romance to reflection, and each shows the poet's unmatched command of language. There is no need to know the plots in advance: every speech is a small drama in itself, with a clear voice and a clear feeling. The collection lasts around forty minutes and is ideal for dipping into, for studying, or for simply enjoying how magnificent English can sound. It makes a perfect introduction for newcomers and a pleasant reunion for old friends.
Introduction
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wrote around three dozen plays and a collection of sonnets, and his language has shaped English for four hundred years. Many of his best-known passages are speeches, in which a character, alone or in company, speaks to us about love, ambition, grief or the nature of life itself. The pieces are short enough to be absorbed in a single hearing, and the selection covers a wide emotional range, so it can be taken as a sampler of the playwright's variety. Because the selection is personal rather than systematic, it avoids the feeling of a lecture, and invites you to make your own favourites.
This anthology is a personal choice. The reader has picked speeches he enjoys reading aloud, the kind he wishes he had learned by heart years ago, and which seem to him to show Shakespeare's unsurpassed use of language. He recalls Orson Welles's remark that Shakespeare speaks to everyone and that we all claim him. He also acknowledges the view that a great Shakespearian actor needs an idiosyncratic and extraordinary voice, but argues that this does not prevent ordinary mortals from reading, hearing and enjoying the plays.
The twenty extracts include speeches from As You Like It, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Henry V, Richard III, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice and Romeo and Juliet, and each track is a single passage. The recording lasts about forty minutes and is read by one LibriVox volunteer.
Why listen? Because Shakespeare is meant to be heard. The rhythm, the images and the turns of thought come alive in the voice, and a short selection like this makes a friendly way into the work.
Public domain
William Shakespeare died in 1616: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive