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  Playwright and RSC Writer in Residence Mark Ravenhill recites his new sonnet, commissioned by us to celebrate the offical opening of the World Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare's 448th birthday.

  A New Sonnet by Mark Ravenhill

  I envy you. Your world was new, unmapped,
  The language that you wrote in barely fixed;
  You were Shagsbeer or Shaxpeer - whatever
  Form your Will-full pen chose to take each day;
  Whole continents of human thought and heart
  Were not yet owned by any national tongue
  And were yours to chart, conquer, describe, sell:
  You made an empire of our language in your Globe.
  And now we rush to patent every cell
  Of being: we brand ourselves with jingles,
  Every word we speak or write is trading
  And our little lives are ended with a deal.
  You taught us language and there's profit on't
  But still a greater possibility - to curse.