Posted on 04/23/2016 8:31:19 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Exactly 400 years ago on this day, William Shakespeare passed this mortal coil. His effect on the English language was YUUUUUGE. Therefore I am asking for general observations on The Bard.
p.s. PLEASE DON'T post conspiracy theories about how the true author of the Shakespeare plays was really somebody else. That stuff is old AND annoying. It was SHAKESPEARE who wrote it.
“Shakespeare and the King James Bible.”
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I always found it fascinating that if you go to Psalm 46 in the KJV (this only works in the KJV):
1) Count the words going forward until you reach the 46th word
2) Count the words from the end going backward (excluding the “Selah” at the end) until you reach the 46th word
3) Put the two words together
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46 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
When the Psalms were being assigned, I can picture him asking, “Please, may I translate the Twenty-third?”
That's my favorite.
Oops, I didn’t see your last sentence. I don’t agree that some one besides Shakespeare wrote what he wrote, but only to indicate that there were other great English writers at that time.
My apologies.
Some of these sayings, I used to attribute to Mark Twain or H.L. Mencken not knowing who they originally came from.
Shakespeare had a big influence on Abraham Lincoln who read quite a bit of Shakespeare. Remember “Better Angels of our nature?” “Better angel” is from Othello.
He was last seen headed east on I 5
Context is important. Reading the plays is hard, because there are enough literary unknowns to most readers. Performed, however, makes it much easier precisely because any errors you don’t grasp are explained visually. As such, I like modern settings with original words, showing how humanity really hasn’t changed (Laz Buhrman’s “Romeo and Juliet” a great example).
“Therefore my observation is that the influence of Shakespeare sealed the English language causing it to remain mostly unchanged in the centuries since his death.”
English, unchanged, since 1616? You cannot be serious. English, more than any other language on earth has morphed, changed, adapted, stolen and expanded more than any other language on earth.
It is probably the language most different than its 1616 form than any other.
English is a snowball, rolling across the earth, taking what it likes in words and usage and structure, and rolling on.... bigger and with more kinetic energy.
There is no “Academie English”. English is the wild west of languages. English beats up other languages in dark alleys, then rifles through their pockets looking for loose grammar and vocabulary.
No, the only thing English HAS done since Shakespeare is to change.
Yet him for this my love no whit disdaineth;
Suns of the world may stain when heaven’s sun staineth.
I should quote that to my nephew who blabbers about wanting to become a tough Army Ranger yet completely pussied out from swimming a few weeks ago because he claimed the Florida Keys water was too COLD for him. Meanwhile his brother and sister, 10 and 7, had no problem swimming in that same water along with the rest of us.
I'm glad I wasn't drinking coffee when I read this...
PJ, Shakespeare being such a prolific author must have left behind a tremendous library of books, letters, rough drafts of plays, scribbled notes and writings of every description.
Where is this collection at so the interested may visit?
Key word is “MOSTLY.” English language changed LESS in the 400 years since his death than it did in the 100 years before his birth. Take a look at English from the late 1400s and it is much different.
How Many Words Did Shakespeare Know?
Taken from Statistical Reasoning for Everyday Life, Bennett, Briggs, Triola, Second Edition, Addison Wesley Longman, 2002
Words used once and only once by Shakespeare in his works - 14,376.
Total written vocabulary in his works - 31,534.
Approximate total vocabulary possessed by Shakespeare - 66,534.
http://math.ucdenver.edu/~wbriggs/qr/shakespeare.html
I HIGHLY recommend “Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare” by Isaac Asimov. He makes the plays VERY understandable both in context and in the use of the words.
How correct dost thee actually be?
“She’s the man” is twelfth night
“Ten things I hate about you” is taming of the shrew.
Both good movies, too
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.
It’s interesting, re “Merchant”, how unapologetic it was for a muslim to woo Portia. Yet for a Jew to have done so, likely would have him imprisoned if not executed.
To Shakespeare’s credit for the time however, Shylock’s speech, “I am a Jew”, from Act III, was certainly ahead of it’s time.
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