BEOWULF SHAKESPEARE AMERICAN ENGLISH PLAIN ENGLISH BEST ESSAYS

AND ALL THAT

1066 HOME OLD ENGLISH MIDDLE ENGLISH MODERN ENGLISH CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH
 
   

Shakespeare's English

 

Example from King Lear (2)

 

[ This topic is developed in more detail here. ]

 

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

(11)

Rumble thy bellyful. Spit, fire; spout, rain.

Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters.

I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness;

I never gave you kingdom, call’d you children;

You owe me no subscription. Then let fall

Your horrible pleasure. Here I stand, your slave,

A poor, infirm, weak and despis’d old man;

But yet I call you servile ministers

That will with two pernicious daughters join

Your high-engender’d battles ‘gainst a head

So old and white as this. O, ho! ‘tis foul!

 
  • Lines 1-5 (“native” and simple) are contrasted with lines 6-11 (“borrowed” and elevated)

 
  • Hostile forces are portrayed with the help of the loanwords

 
  • The words referring to the old king are of Anglo-Saxon origin

 
  • Line 7 displays a series of swift transitions from the elevated to simplicity:

 

(7)

A poor, infirm, weak and despis’d old man

  

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SHAKESPEARE'S ENGLISH

  Shakespeare’s Command of English

  Shakespeare's Language of Humour

  Shakespeare's Language of Pathos

  Example from King Lear (1)

  Example from King Lear (2)

  Example from King Lear (3)

MODERN ENGLISH

  The "Ink-horn" Controversy 

  Humour & Pathos in Shakespeare

  Biblical Phrases Test

  British vs. American English

  More

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