"The language of Shakespeare's plays is a mixture of poetry and prose. (See the notes later in this topic.)"
"It is full of powerful imagery and yet it can be direct and crude. It shows his genius, yet at the same time, makes his plays very difficult to read."
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"This often puts students off initially, but you will find that with persistence and practice, 'decoding' Shakespeare's language becomes easier."
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"The notes that follow go a small way towards helping - the rest you must do for yourself."
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"There are three aspects of the language that make it difficult for the student."
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"1. Shakespeare uses the language of his own time. In 400 years English has lost many words and changed the meanings of many others."
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"2. Shakespeare followed the conventions of his day in writing his plays mainly in verse. The poetry demands careful reading to understand the full meaning."
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"3. Many students are still struggling to master modern everyday English. This makes it doubly difficult for them to understand Shakespeare's Elizabethan language."
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"VOCAB & PHRASES"
"This list only includes the most common terms. Other difficult words and phrases will already be explained in your text."
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"*ELIZABETHAN MODERN"
"hence *from here"
"art thou? *are you?"
"thou *you"
"thy *your"
"dost thou? *do you?"
"wherefore *why"
"oft *often"
"yea *even"
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"VOCAB & PHRASES (cont.)"
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"*ELIZABETHAN MODERN"
"doth *does"
"what say'st thou? *what do you say"
"'tis *it is"
"'twas *it was"
"ay *yes"
"i' *in"
"aught *anything"
"thou hast *you have"
"yond, yonder *that one there"
"would (he were) *I wish (he was)"
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"VOCAB & PHRASES (cont.)"
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"*ELIZABETHAN MODERN"
"thee *you"
"marry *a mild swear word"
"nay *no"
"ye *you"
"hie *hurry"
"ere *before"
"an *if"
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"*SHAKESPEARE'S VERSE"
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"Like the rest of Shakespeare's plays, the main part of 'Romeo and Juliet' is written in Blank Verse. However, the lower class characters such as the servants speak in prose."
"Another section that is in prose is the lively battle of wits between Mercutio and Romeo at the beginning of Act II, scene iv"
"Presumably, the jokes in this passage would not have been as effective in verse."
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"So, as in his other plays, Shakespeare uses prose only for very unimportant characters or to mark a different or untypical passage."
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"*BLANK VERSE"
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"The verse form used by Shakespeare has the technical name IAMBIC PENTAMETER"
"This simply means that each line has 10 syllables and is made up of 5 pairs of syllables - with the second of each pair carrying the stress."
"If you look at a typical line from the play, you will find it is like this:"
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"*They are but beggars that can count their worth"
"* ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ "
"This line has 10 syllables, (count them), and the marked syllables carry the strongest stress."
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"BLANK VERSE (cont.)"
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"This type of verse would be boring if it was used continuously, but Shakespeare was an expert at varying his rhythm to suit the situation."
"His lines also vary according to the speaker and the mood he wishes to convey."
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"As in other poetry, imagery is very important.See the separate notes on this topic."
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"Although this type of verse rarely rhymes, this play is an exception. Much more than in his other plays, Shakespeare does end the lines with rhyme, making this a more 'poetic' play"
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"BLANK VERSE (cont.)"
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"The subject of Shakespeare's poetry is too complex to cover in greater detail here. For more information, consult your teacher, or go to the library for more research."
"For exam purposes, you don't need to study the verse structure in great detail, but a basic understanding of what Blank Verse is will be an enormous help in making sense of the text."
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"Whatever you do, don't let the language of the play put you off. Remember that Shakespeare was writing for ordinary people, not university scholars.Often a little thought can make the meaning clear."
