Senoufou, "Even the Sonnets (of which I have a most beautiful copy, illustrated with Elizabethan art) affect one much more when read aloud. " ALL sonnets affect one much more when read aloud. That is a fundamental characteristic of Lyrical verse. At the very least, one must read then so the words sound in one's head to fully appreciate the work. The sound is as important to the verse as the meaning of the words. By John Keats ( whose 65 sonnets rival in quality ( or exceed in my estimation) the 154 of W Shakespeare ) When I have fears that I may cease to be Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain, Before high-pilèd books, in charactery, Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain; When I behold, upon the night’s starred face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance, And think that I may never live to trace Their shadows with the magic hand of chance; And when I feel, fair creature of an hour, That I shall never look upon thee more, Never have relish in the faery power Of unreflecting love—then on the shore Of the wide world I stand alone, and think Till love and fame to nothingness do sink. On First Looking into Chapman's Homer Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He star'd at the Pacific — and all his men Look'd at each other with a wild surmise — Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
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