The English Language

1. The English Language • Throughout time, the English language has gone through many changes. • There are 4 major periods: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, and Late Modern English • Which one are we in?

2. play a wav file of this Old English text (518Kb) • Old English: The Lord’s Prayer • Fæder ure þuþe eart on heofonum si þin nama gehalgod tobecume þin rice gewurþe þin willa on eorðan swa swa on heofonum urne gedæghwamlican hlaf syle us to dæg and forgyf us ure gyltas swa swa we forgyfað urum gyltendum and ne gelæd þu us on costnunge ac alys us of yfele soþlice.

3. Middle English • Oure fadir þat art in heuenes halwid be þi name; þi reume or kyngdom come to be. Be þi wille don in herþe as it is dounin heuene. yeue to us today oure eche dayes bred. And foryeue to us oure dettis þat is oure synnys as we foryeuen to oure dettouris þat is to men þat han synned in us. And lede us not into temptacion but delyuere us from euyl

4. Early Modern English • Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heauen. Giue us this day our daily bread. And forgiue us our debts as we forgiue our debters. And lead us not into temptation, but deliuer us from euill.

5. Late Modern English • Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those who tresspass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

6. The Language of Shakespeare • Shakespeare wrote using Early Modern English also called Elizabethan English • EME is different from the way we speak today, although it has many similarities

7. Iambic Pentameter • Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets are written in iambic pentameter. • An “iamb” is the combination of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. • EX: annoy, fulfill, pretend, regard, and serene

8. Iambic Pentameter • In each line of Shakespeare there are 10 syllables, and 5 iambs. • Penta meter • Penta means 5 • Meter refers to the recurrence of a rhythmic unit. This is also called a “foot” • A line written in iambic pentameter has 5 iambs or “feet” and 10 syllables

9. Examples But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? I will not fail: 'tis twenty years till then. I have forgot why I did call thee back.

10. Why Iambic Pentameter? • It closely mimics the natural speech pattern in English. • It made lines easier to remember for the actors.

11. Other issues when reading Shakespeare… 1. Unfamiliar Vocabulary: using unfamiliar words or forms of words. • EX: “It was merely foolery, I did not mark it.” • “Foolery” means “foolishness” • “Mark it” means “notice it.” • Restate the line in your own words: • Strategies you can use to combat this issue:

12. Issues… 2. Grammatical Forms: archaic forms of familiar words (mostly pronouns) EX: “O judgment thou art fled to brutish beasts!” “Thou art” means “you are” EX: “Get thee to a nunnery!” “Thee” means “yourself” or sometimes “you” EX: “To thine own self be true” “Thine” means “your” EX: “Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?” “Wherefore” means “why” Strategies you can use to combat this issue:

13. Issues… 3. Grammatical Structure: different grammatical structures than Late Modern English EX: “I denied you not” Translation: I did not deny you EX: “Get you home!” Translation: “Get home!” or “Go home!”

14. Issues… 4. Unusual Word Order EX: “Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?” Translation: “Did this seem ambitious of Caesar?” Strategies:

15. Issues… • Puns: puns are when homonyms are used for effect EX: “A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience, which is indeed, sir a mender of bad soles.” The pun: he is a cobbler, who makes shoes Souls v. soles “mends bad souls” Strategies:

16. Play on words • Similar to puns, a play on words is where a phrase is misinterpreted as meaning something other than the intended meaning. Listen/ Look at “Who’s on First” by Abbott and Costello. What is being mistinterpretted? • http://www.phoenix5.org/humor/WhoOnFirst.html • ..\Who's on First.doc

17. Issues… 6. Allusions: a reference to a well-known story in the Bible, Greek/Roman Mythology, or a well-known person like Queen Elizabeth EX: “Why man he doth bestride the narrow world/Like a Colossus” Translation: An allusion to the giant Colossus from mythology Strategies: End of notes

18. RECAP • Shakespeare writes in a form of English called ______ _____ ______. • He uses _____ ______ which has 10 syllables per line and five feet per line. • Some issues when reading Shakespeare are… • Some strategies when reading Shakespeare are…

19. Assignment • Read Sonnet # • Mark the unstressed and stressed syllables in each line • Translate each line into Late Modern English YOU WILL NEED A DICTIONARY OR THESAURUS

20. Sonnet When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyesI all alone beweep my outcast state,And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,And look upon myself, and curse my fate,Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,Haply I think on thee, and then my state,Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;For thy sweet love remembered such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

21. It is uncertain whether the state of disgrace referred to in this sonnet is a real or imaginary one, for we have no external evidence of a dip in Shakespeare's fortunes which might have contributed to an attack of melancholy and a subsequent castigation of fate as the perpetrator. It is tempting to relate works to periods in an author's life. Certainly the years in which Shakespeare wrote Lear and Timon of Athens seem not to have been the happiest of times, but it is almost impossible to correlate particular events in his life, and the possible emotional crises that they could have produced, with publication dates, or known dates of production of his plays. The sorrow quoted here might be more rhetorical than real, being part of the sonnet tradition, in which many misfortunes contrive to make the lover unhappy. It also serves to highlight the great joy which ends the poem, when he thinks once more on his beloved, as in the psalms, and rises above the clouds.