Melvyn Bragg Recites William Shakespeare

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
I summon up remembrance of things past,
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:
Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,
For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,
And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,
And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,
And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
   But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
   All losses are restor'd and sorrows end.

Sonnet 30, by William Shakespeare.

I think Melvyn Bragg is right:  The usually restorative final couplet isn't so satisfying.  The sonnet beats with resonating drums (Then can I grieve at grievances foregone and The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan) and carries heavy hearted spondees on its shoulders (dear time's waste and death's dateless night).  The 12 lines then are so moving, so compelling, and so beautiful that emotionally the sonnet pulls for us to stay, even if perversely, in despondency and eschew the couplet resolution.