To Be or Not To Be - Hamlet
Kenneth Branagh performs Hamlet's most famous soliloquy, contemplating existence, death, and the nature of suffering.
What a Piece of Work is Man - Hamlet
Hamlet's meditation on humanity's nobility and his own melancholy. 'What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason...'
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Macbeth
Ian McKellen delivers Macbeth's nihilistic reflection on life as 'a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.'
Now is the Winter of Our Discontent - Richard III
Laurence Olivier's iconic opening monologue as the scheming Richard III plots his rise to power.
The Quality of Mercy - The Merchant of Venice
Portia's eloquent speech on mercy: 'It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.'
All the World's a Stage - As You Like It
Jaques' famous meditation on the seven ages of man, from 'mewling and puking' infant to 'second childishness.'
Put Out the Light - Othello
Othello's heartbreaking soliloquy before killing Desdemona, contemplating the irreversibility of death.
St. Crispin's Day Speech - Henry V
Kenneth Branagh's stirring delivery of Henry's speech before Agincourt: 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.'
Friends, Romans, Countrymen - Julius Caesar
Mark Antony's masterful funeral oration that turns the crowd against Caesar's assassins through irony and emotion.
The Raven
Christopher Walken reads Poe's haunting poem of loss and madness. 'Quoth the Raven, Nevermore.'
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost himself reads his most famous poem about choices and their consequences.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
Dylan Thomas reads his villanelle urging resistance against death. 'Rage, rage against the dying of the light.'
Howl
Ginsberg performs his landmark Beat poem: 'I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness.'
Still I Rise
Maya Angelou performs her defiant anthem of resilience and self-affirmation.
Ozymandias
Bryan Cranston performs Shelley's sonnet on the impermanence of power: 'Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Jabberwocky
Benedict Cumberbatch performs Carroll's nonsense masterpiece: 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe.'
The Waste Land
T.S. Eliot reads excerpts from his modernist masterpiece: 'April is the cruellest month.'
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Robert Frost reads his meditation on duty and mortality: 'But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.'
Death Be Not Proud
A powerful reading of Donne's Holy Sonnet defying death: 'Death, thou shalt die.'
The Tyger
Blake's visionary poem questioning creation: 'What immortal hand or eye could frame thy fearful symmetry?'
Kubla Khan
Coleridge's opium-dream vision of Xanadu: 'In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree.'
Ode to a Nightingale
Keats' meditation on mortality and the eternal song of the nightingale.
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
Wordsworth's beloved poem on the joy of nature: 'A host of golden daffodils.'
Annabel Lee
Poe's final poem, a haunting tale of love beyond death: 'In a kingdom by the sea.'
Song of Myself (excerpts)
Whitman's celebration of self and democracy: 'I celebrate myself, and sing myself.'
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Dickinson's serene personification of death as a gentleman caller.
Harlem (A Dream Deferred)
Hughes' powerful question about deferred dreams: 'Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?'
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Hughes reads his meditation on African American heritage: 'I've known rivers ancient as the world.'
The Lottery
A dramatic reading of Jackson's shocking story about a small town's annual ritual. One of the most famous short stories ever written.
The Tell-Tale Heart
James Mason reads Poe's tale of guilt and madness: 'It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain.'
The Gift of the Magi
O. Henry's beloved tale of sacrificial love between a young couple at Christmas.
Hills Like White Elephants
Hemingway's masterpiece of subtext: a couple's conversation at a Spanish train station.
The Yellow Wallpaper
A woman's descent into madness, confined to a room with yellow wallpaper. A landmark feminist text.
The Guest House
Rumi's beloved poem on welcoming all emotions: 'This being human is a guest house.'
Where the Mind is Without Fear
Tagore's prayer for India's freedom: 'Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.'
Vultures
Achebe's meditation on love existing even in the hearts of evil men.
Blow, Winds, and Crack Your Cheeks - King Lear
Ian McKellen as Lear rages against the storm and his ungrateful daughters.
Our Revels Now Are Ended - The Tempest
Prospero's meditation on the insubstantial nature of life: 'We are such stuff as dreams are made on.'
But Soft, What Light - Romeo and Juliet
Romeo's famous balcony speech: 'But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.'