#sonnet 12

Clock (Words by William Shakespeare, Read by Neil Gaiman, Music by FourPlay StringQuartet)

Released on World Shakespeare Day 2023, this is Clock, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 12, read by Neil Gaiman and set to a haunting musical backdrop by Australia's FourPlay String Quartet. Taken from their debut album Signs of Life.

Sorry...the train’s moving and there is a lot going on. Let’s start at minute 4:00. As he checks his watch, Holmes is passed in the hallway by a woman in a feather hat, and a Conductor. Eventually he joins Watson inside Carriage #12. 

When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves, Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing ’gainst Time’s scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

The poem has images of mortality, and unfolds in one long ‘train’ of thought.

Here is a list of the references used in the poem, to which I see how many match the scene.

Clock: Hours on the clock, the time passing In Holmes hands

Brave: Having great beauty and/or splendor Watson

Past prime: Declining from its perfection Both of them, really

Sable: Black (A Heraldic term) Color of Silver Blaze and the word Silver’d stands out

Erst: Formerly, Once Used in reference to Silver Blaze’s reputation

Summer's Green: Foliage All around the outside

Sheaves: Bundles Watson’s newspaper

Bier: A frame used to carry a corpse to the grave. Which the train makes a good stand in for. Reminds me of V For Vendetta

Beard: In Elizabethan times, "beard" was pronounced as "bird" Well, there is a bird-like hat on the woman who walks past then a beard on the Conductor

Sweets: Virtues  This and the next 4 tie in quite well with the conversation about Silver Blaze, his breeding, and some being against his run

Others: Referencing other virtues and beauties

'gainst: Against

Breed: Offspring, Descendants

Brave: Defy  

So, now I see that Shakespeare sonnets are hidden in Granada Holmes. Are they also in the Canon? I don’t know, but it’s obvious Shakespeare ranks high with Holmes. His work is mentioned or referenced in the books many times; well over 15.

Other Shakespeare Sonnet Series in Sherlock

John’s Seven Lamps: A Shakespeare Sonnet Meta

The Great Game, A Sonnet, and Bus #14

John’s Lament: Sonnet 58

59 & The Cycle of Life

Sonnet 12 by William Shakespeare (read by Sir Patrick Stewart)

When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;

When lofty trees I see barren of leaves Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,

Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow;

Sonnet 12 by William Shakespeare (read by Sir John Gielgud)

When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls, all silvered o’er with white; When lofty trees I see barren of leaves, Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves, Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard, Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake And die as fast as they see others grow; And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.

Sonnet 12 by William Shakespeare (read by Richard Mitchley)

When I do count the clock that tells the time, And see the brave day sunk in hideous night; When I behold the violet past prime, And sable curls all silver’d o’er with white;

When lofty trees I see barren of leaves Which erst from heat did canopy the herd, And summer’s green all girded up in sheaves Borne on the bier with white and bristly beard,

Then of thy beauty do I question make, That thou among the wastes of time must go, Since sweets and beauties do themselves forsake

And die as fast as they see others grow;   And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence   Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence.