Rhetoric, Wordplay, Forms Source of pleasure or Obstacle to appreciation?
Languages naturally change over time. New words are always being added (Internet terms). Languages can also be dead (Latin) English has changed over the centuries and is still changing today. A Great Vowel Shift occurred A movement in time when vowels began to be said differently. The angle of the tongue began to push more forward. English Language History
Scholars recognize three historical periods in English Old English Middle English Modern English Shakespeare helped create Modern English! Shakespeare’s English
Shakespeare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with the introduction of nearly 3,000 words into the language (example: bedroom, assassin, blanket, numb, unreal, dawn) Shakespeare uses contractions in his writing to meet the syllable requirements in a line (iambic pentameter) Shakespeare uses Malapropisms Words purposely used incorrectly for a joke— usually done by a lower class citizen. Shakespeare’s English Continued
Contractions: Shakespeare would omit syllables to make things fit and sound better ‘t: it Tis: it is O’er: over E’er: ever Ne’er: never Three ways to say “you” Thou: Friends or Family “You”: Formal, used with strangers “Ye”: Usually plural “An” and “And” can also mean “if” “Hap” or “Haply” means perhaps A Tiny Glossary of Shakespeare
Density and richness Characters express thoughts through abundant, powerful images and metaphors Figurative language: pleases the mind and senses - expresses one idea in terms of another Connotative imagery: highly suggestive network of pictures and ideas resonating with other images, ideas, themes in play Qualities of Shakespeare’s verse
Technical difficulties for modern readers: verbs with inflected endings hath, doth, goeth forms were in transition from medieval to modern pronoun problem - thee, thou, thy, thine familiar vs.. formal - thou and you Early Modern English – the transition from Middle to Modern
Vocabulary Stumbling Block Shakespeare’s vocabulary: 29,000 words (twice that of the average Am.college student) Many of his words have since dropped/changed from common usage: bisson (blind), proper (handsome), cousin (kinsman), silly (innocent)
Sentence Structure Syntax - arrangement of words in sentence Influence of Latin grammar Move toward “simplicity” - Bacon > Orwell Shakespeare created stage pictures out of poetry - issues of verse and prosody (patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry) iambic pentameter rhythm, emphasis characterization
Two primary forms: prose and poetry Dominant form of verse: blank verse Example of Shakespearean prose: Hamlet’s “What a piece of work is a man” rhythmic power from patterns of verbal repetition Forms of dramatic language
Blank Verse – no rhyme at the end Written in unrhymed iambic pentameter (five iambic units in each line) Iambic meter – each unstressed syllable is followed by a stressed syllable Couplets – two consecutive lines of poetry that rhyme. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say good night till it be morrow. End-stopped line – punctuation at the end Run-on line – no punctuation – idea is completed in later lines
Five-beat structure works on the ear Smooth musicality of the meter Regular repetition of unstressed and stressed sounds Combines with other repetition (words, phrases, consonants, vowels) to create a mood of intense emotion - even awe Other Aspects of Shakespeare’s Writing
Prose Writing Ordinary writing that is not poetry, drama, or song Only characters in the lower social classes speak this way in Shakespeare’s plays Why do you suppose that is?
Music and rhymed music Rhymed couplets often end scenes the play’s the thing,/Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King” -- Hamlet Rhyme fills A Midsummer Night’s Dream Helena’s first soliloquy ( ) Oberon’s chant as he applies magic lotion to Titania’s eyes ( ) What distinguishes poetry from prose ?
Much of R & J is written in it: unrhymed verse iambic (unstressed, stressed) pentameter( 5 “feet” to a line) ends up to be 10 syllable lines