05.12.06

Sonnet Walks

Tagged as Literature

Slate has an article about sonnet walks in London:

As we shambled down the Victoria Embankment, a bum on a bench started to harangue us for money. Suddenly, his requests for spare change segued into Sonnet 91, “Some glory in their birth, some in their skill / … Thy love is better than high birth to me / Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost.” The transformation was incredible — menacing to captivating in two lines. We carried on — a more cohesive group by now — and as we picked our way through the tourists in Whitehall Gardens, a blind man stumbled and fell. Naturally, we ran over to pick him up, only for him to launch into a sonnet. And so it went, through winding little roads, past ancient pubs and Middle Temple Hall, all the while being surprised by 12 stealth sonneteers posing as: a needy guy on crutches (Sonnet 89, “Speak of my lameness, and I straight will halt”); more street people; a woman talking to a cheating lover on her cell phone; workmen; lost tourists seeking directions; and, as we grew increasingly suspicious of everyone we saw, a guy in a chicken suit.

I have got to get to London.

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