Understanding Shakespeare

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Understanding Shakespeare

• The Keys to Breaking the Code

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Why do some people dislike Shakespeare?

• The most common answer is, Hes so confusing. I
  dont understand what he is saying.

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Read the following sonnet.

• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
• And summers lease hath all too short a date
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
• And often is his gold complexion dimmed.
• And every fair from fair sometime declines,
• By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,
• Nor shall death brag thou wand-rest in his shade,
• When in eternal lines to time thou growst,
• So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
• So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

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What?!?

• Thee?
• Thy?
• Owst
• Wandrest
• Art?

• How am I supposed to understand this stuff?
• What if I dont get it?
• Am I going to fail this unit?
• I wish someone would help me understand.

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Thank goodness you have a friend.
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As you read for today, there are three main
language barriers

• Unusual Word Arrangements
• The Omission of Letters, Syllables, and Whole
  Words.
• Unusual Word Usage

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Unusual Word Arrangement

• Shakespeare changed the order of words for poetic
  reasons or dramatic effect.
• Note the change in the inflection of these
  sentences simply by changing the word order
• Ate I the sandwich.
• The sandwich I ate.
• I the sandwich ate.

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What is the key to breaking this code?

• Locate the subject, verb, and object.
• Rearrange the words in the order that makes
  sense.
• For example
• Ate I the sandwich.?
• I ate the sandwich.

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Omissions

• To make the line fit the metric pattern (the
  number of beats in the line), Shakespeare
  sometimes had to omit (leave out) words or
  letters.
• This isnt much different than what we do
• Im not going to Goedes class.
• Y not?
• Cuz I have an drs appt.

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Whats the key to breaking the code?

• Know the common examples
• tis ? it is
• ope ? open
• oer ? over
• neer ? never
• oft ? often
• eer ? ever
• een ? even

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Unusual Word Usage

• Our vocabulary between 6,000-15,000 words.
• Shakespeares vocabulary around 30,000 words.
• Shakespeare invented words just like us.
  Sometimes the words he uses we think we know, but
  they have a different meaning than today.

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Whats the key tobreaking the code?

• Take ownership.
• Dont skip words because you dont know them.
• Use the glossary in our text or go to a website.
• http//www.shakespearehigh.com/classroom/guide/pag
  e3.shtml

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Finally, we must break the code to Shakespeares
poetry.

• Iambic pentameter five beats of alternating
  unstressed and stressed syllables ten syllables
  per line.
• I am so glad the day is near-ly done.
• To lie up-on my couch will be much fun.
• Couplet two lines of poetry that fit together.
• Quatrain four lines of poetry that fit together.

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Label the meter of the following couplet.

• My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun,
• Coral is far more red, than her lips red.
• My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun,
• Coral is far more red, than her lips red.

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Lets meet the sonnet.

• A sonnet was a type of poem made famous in the
  16th and 17th century.
• Two types Shakespearean (Elizabethan) and
  Italian (Petrachan)
• Shakespearean
• 14 lines
• Iambic pentameter
• Rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg)
• Three quatrains and one couplet.

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Remember this poem?

• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
• And summers lease hath all too short a date
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
• And often is his gold complexion dimmed.
• And every fair from fair sometime declines,
• By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,
• Nor shall death brag thou wand-rest in his shade,
• When in eternal lines to time thou growst,
• So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
• So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

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Lets label the sections.

• Shall I compare thee to a summers day? A
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate B
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, A
• And summers lease hath all too short a date B
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, C
• And often is his gold complexion dimmed. D
• And every fair from fair sometime declines, C
• By chance, or natures changing course
  untrimmed D
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade, E
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst, F
• Nor shall death brag thou wand-rest in his
  shade, E
• When in eternal lines to time thou growst, F
• So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, G
• So long lives this, and this gives life to
  thee. G

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But the question remains

• What does this mean?

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Whats the key to breaking the code?

• Locate phrases that you understand.
• Put these phrases into your words.
• Essentially, you translate Shakespeare into our
  modern-day language.

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Sonnet 18 (Shakespeares way)

• Shall I compare thee to a summers day?
• Thou art more lovely and more temperate
• Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
• And summers lease hath all too short a date
• Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
• And often is his gold complexion dimmed.
• And every fair from fair sometime declines,
• By chance, or natures changing course untrimmed
• But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
• Nor lose possession of that fair thou owst,
• Nor shall death brag thou wand-rest in his shade,
• When in eternal lines to time thou growst,
• So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
• So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

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Sonnet 18 (Translated)

• Ooohh Baby I think I will compare you to a
  summers day
• But you know youre prettier and even better than
  that
• You know sometimes it gets windy and the leaves
  and things on the tree blow off
• And sometimes summer doesnt last very long or it
  gets too hot
• And everything that is gorgeous loses its good
  looks
• Like it gets hit by a truck or sometimes just
  because everything and everyone gets old and ugly
  and shabby
• BUT youre going to keep your looks for ever
• Your beauty will last forever
• Im going to make sure that you never lose your
  good looks
• And that nasty old Death can never say he owns
  you
• Because Im going to write this poem about you so
  that
• As long as people can breathe
• As long as people can read
• This poem will live and be a testament to and
  memory of how good you look.

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Now you have the keys.

• As we begin reading Shakespeare next week, keep
  these clues in mind.
• Shakespeare doesnt have to be confusing if you
  have the proper tools.

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Your assignment for tomorrow

• None.
• Tomorrow we will discuss this together and look
  at a virtual tour of Shakespearean theatres.
• Be safe
• Make Smart Decisions, and
• Be Brilliant.