Benedict Reciting Poetry = Amazing

As one of the preeminent British actors of the moment, it follows the legacy of the position that Benedict Cumberbatch has a really epic voice. It then also follows, of course, that it just feels right that read a poem for the re-burial of King Richard III. Not only is he related to the late monarch, but Benedict Cumberbatch has a voice suited to reading poetry — a skill not too many people actually possess, as anyone who's been to more than one poetry reading could tell you.

This is hardly the first occasion in which we've seen Cumberbatch recite verse, and it will certainly not be the last. In fact, I've got a feeling we're on this boat for decades to come — and more recently Cumberbatch has been gearing up to play Hamlet on the London stage in a production starting this summer.

Since not all of us can make it to the London stage, though, and considering one re-burial poetry reading is far from enough, we've taken the liberty of gathering some other instances of Cumberbatch's voice living where it seems it's most comfortable. In other words: Enjoy these recordings of Cumberbatch reciting poetry. It's just what he was meant to do.

But first, his reading of the poem "Richard"...

And now, a few others...

"Jabberwocky"

A classic by Lewis Caroll.

"Ode To A Nightingale"

Another work by a classic poet, John Keats.

"The Seven Ages Of Man"

Gotta have the Shakespeare.

Samuel Taylor-Coleridge's "Kublai Khan"

Well now I'm just picturing Benedict Cumberbatch on opium.

R. Kelly's "Genius"

It counts.