Rebecca's Reading RoomThe Bard’s Corner – Finding Ourselves in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
The Bard’s Corner: Finding Ourselves in Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Welcome to The Bard’s Corner—a new podcast series within Rebecca’s Reading Room, where we listen anew to the voice of William Shakespeare. Not as a distant literary figure confined to dusty libraries and exam rooms, but as a companion whose words still walk beside us.
“From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty’s rose might never die…”
— Sonnet 1
William shakespeare
For many, Shakespeare feels like an academic mountain—imposing, admirable, and far away. But I believe we’ve been looking at the summit instead of stepping onto the path. When we return to his sonnets with fresh eyes and open hearts, we discover not a test to be passed, but a mirror held up to life itself.
Shakespeare and Company, Paris France (Rebecca Budd Photo Archives 2023)We begin our journey with Sonnets 1 and 2—two deceptively simple poems that form the foundation of the entire sonnet sequence. These are not love poems in the traditional sense. They are pleas, reflections, and quiet reckonings. They speak of beauty, legacy, and the passage of time. And as we listen, we begin to hear something else: the questions we ask ourselves each day.
What will I leave behind?
Is my life meant to be shared, not hoarded?
How do I honour time without fearing it?
In Sonnet 1, Shakespeare urges the young man to pass on his beauty through future generations—a metaphor for legacy, for choosing life over isolation. In Sonnet 2, the tone darkens: forty winters are coming. The mirror will one day hold a different face. What will remain?
These questions may be wrapped in iambic pentameter, but they are not abstract. They are deeply human.
The Bard’s Corner is an invitation to return to these verses not with a scholar’s gaze, but with a seeker’s heart. To read Shakespeare not just for what he meant in 1609—but for what he might mean to us now, in this moment, in this life.
Sonnet 1 features a heartfelt conversation with my sister Sarah. We explore the meaning behind Shakespeare’s opening lines and reflect on how beauty, legacy, and connection shape our lives today. It was a joyful recording—full of insight, laughter, and the quiet discovery that Shakespeare speaks to sisters, too.
https://youtu.be/a47u7NQnizI?si=uCgergehtrakiO-d
Sonnet 2, on the other hand, is a quieter moment. Just me, in nature, and Shakespeare’s voice carried forward. A simple recitation. A short reflection. A moment of pause.
https://youtu.be/1pTaTO7vwII?si=FEzLQq8AY_o_-_fk
These two episodes offer a glimpse into what The Bard’s Corner hopes to become: not a lecture, but a shared listening space. A room where Shakespeare isn’t confined to the classroom, but invited into the kitchen, the garden, the quiet hours of the morning.
If you’ve ever felt that Shakespeare belonged to someone else—some professor, some actor, some distant past—this is your place to reclaim him. Join me, and let’s find ourselves in his words.
We don’t read Shakespeare to understand the past. We read him to understand ourselves.”
Sonnet # 2: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege thy Brow – The Bard's Corner
Sonnet # 2: When Forty Winters Shall Besiege thy Brow05:18Sonnet # 1 From fairest creatures we desire increase11:06The Launch of The Bard’s Corner01:33#Poetry #PoetryRecitation #RebeccaSReadingRoom #SarahAhmadi #Sonnet1 #Sonnet2 #TheBardSCorner
