![]() How to Understand Shakespeare's Language: Strategies for Reading the Bard A concise study guide from the folks at. History of the English Language A (very) brief history of the English language from. Elizabethan English Pronunciation Ben and David Crystal explain and demonstrate Original Pronunciation (OP) in use during Shakespeare's time. A look at the literary use of Elizabethan English. Elizabethan English as a literary medium From. Elizabethan English Topics include sounds and sentences, puns and word-play, Shakespeare's pronunciation, and prose and verse. CliffsNotesShakespeare Glossary A glossary of Shakespearean terms from the people who have made a living out of students who don't want to read the plays for themselves. These analyses are designed to help you-not to give you all the answers, but simply to demonstrate a method you can use for yourself. Speech Analysis: Selected Readings It's understandable why people sometimes get a little overwhelmed when reading Shakespeare. By taking a closer look at usage, shifts in meaning, syntax, and rhetoric, we can more easily understand the Bard's English. Shakespeare's Grammar In the England of Shakespeare's time, English was a lot more flexible as a language. This quick guide can help you make a little more sense of what his characters are saying. Language Links A Quick Guide to Reading Shakespeare Shakespeare's works are remarkably accessible once you know what to expect when reading them. This facility with language, and the art with which he employed it, is why Shakespeare is as relevant today as he was in his own time. ![]() However, Elizabethan remains a sibling of our own tongue, and hence, accessible. Word order, as the language shifted from Middle to Early Modern English, was still a bit more flexible, and Shakespeare wrote dramatic poetry, not standard prose, which gave some greater license in expression. There are some (present day) anomalies with prepositional usage and verb agreement, and certainly a number of Shakespeare's words have shifted meanings or dropped, with age, from the present vocabulary. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.Īlthough the Elizabethan dialect differs slightly from Modern English, the principles are generally the same. Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen. Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Oure fadir that art in heuenes, halewid be thi name thi kyndoom come to be thi wille don in erthe as in heuene. The following table illustrates the time periods and differences between Old, Middle, and Early Modern, and Modern English: Eraįæder ure þu þe eart on heofonum Si þin nama gehalgod to becume þin rice gewurþe ðin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum. Shakespeare's English, despite the harrowing cries of high school students everywhere, is only one linguistic generation removed from that which we speak today. In the words of Louis Marder, "Shakespeare was so facile in employing words that he was able to use over 7,000 of themmore than occur in the whole King James version of the Bibleonly once and never again." His vocabulary, as culled from his works, numbers upward of 17,000 words (quadruple that of an average, well-educated conversationalist in the language). Shakespeare as a youth would have no more systematically studied his own language than any educated man of the period.ĭespite this, Shakespeare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with the introduction of nearly 3,000 words into the language. ![]() Although certain grammatical treatises were published in Shakespeare's day, organized grammar texts would not appear until the 1700s. There were no dictionaries the first such lexical work for speakers of English was compiled by schoolmaster Robert Cawdrey as A Table Alphabeticall in 1604. It is all the more astounding when one not only considers Shakespeare's sparse formal education but the curriculum of the day. ![]() The most striking feature of Shakespeare is his command of language. ![]()
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