Hip Shake
Understanding Shakespeare How to read Shakespeare . . . and actually get it!
Many students complain that Shakespeare is hard to understand, that the language is outdated and unclear. But believe it or not, the English language has changed very little since Elizbethan times. Linguists (people who study languages) consider Shakespeare’s writing only one “generation” apart from our own. Grammar and sentence structure are virtually the same today as they were 400 years ago. If Shakespeare confuses you, it is likely that the problem is only the individual words. Here’s how to get past that. Some words from Shakespeare’s time have completely disappeared from the English language. For example, you’d be rightfully confused if someone asked you to bacarre the roisting wassail. Most published versions of Shakespeare’s plays include footnotes to explain these outdated words. Use them — they are there to help you.
Consonants and vowels are a great starting point for deciphering these clues. As a basic rule: the angrier someone is, the more consonants they use; the happier, the more vowels. This is a bit oversimplified, but think of examples in your own life. Say this sentence out loud (like you really mean it) and notice how prominent the consonants feel as you say them.
Hip Shake “I’m here to say what’s in my heart . . .
And you call it a style.”
- DMX, Let Me Fly
A Hip-Hop artist is a poet. Shakespeare was a poet. Both tell stories through words, rhyme and rhythm. The only difference is the style. Shakespeare’s style of choice was rhyming couplets. He didn’t use them all the time, but whenever he wanted to make a point or leave the audience with a lasting impression, he used a couplet.
“I can’t believe you’d do that! You’re so selfish!”
A couplet is simply a pair of lines that rhyme and are the same length. How do we measure the length? In syllables. How many syllables are in each of the lines in the example on the left? Ignore the “u / u /” stuff for now.
Now try this one: “I love how you look at me. I feel so wonderful!” The vowels here are fuller, and they make the whole sentence sound lighter and just plain nicer.
When the same consonant sound is used repeatedly, this is called alliteration. Here’s an example from SonIf you are still hung up on a phrase or a sentence, move net 30: “When to the sessions of sweet silent thought.” on. Don’t frustrate yourself reading the same line over If a vowel sound is repeated, it’s called assonance: “Is and over again. Instead get an idea of how the character crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks?” (Romeo & Juis feeling, or what s/he wants in the scene, and see if it liet) begins to make more sense as you continue. Rappers and hip-hop artists use alliteration and assoBut how can you understand how a character is feeling nance all the time. They also use rhythm, and Shakeif you don’t understand the words s/he says? Do what speare is no different. There is a beat that drives each actors do. Modern actors are trained to pick out clues line of Shakespearean text (more detail on the next in Shakespeare’s writing. These clues really do exist. In page). Shakespeare’s time, plays were barely rehearsed. Actors quickly memorized their lines and then performed This is just a small example of how the sound of Shakeonly days later. There was no time to sit around asking, speare’s lines contains their meaning. Don’t forget that “What is my motivation?” So Shakespeare, being an he didn’t intend his plays to be studied in classrooms. He actor himself, knew that he needed to write in a style wrote them to be spoken and heard. If you are stumped that would give his actors all the information they need- by the words he uses, say the line out loud. Use the ed right inside the words. sound and feel of the line, plus the context of the play, to get the meaning. Just like listening to a song, you don’t always need to understand every word to get the big picture.
Alright. Time’s up. Did you count ten syllables? That’s Shakespeare’s favorite kind of couplet, and probably the most common kind in the entire English language. It’s called iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a complicated name for a really simple style. In fact, the reason so many writers use iambic pentameter is that it’s very close to the way we speak in normal conversation. Here’s what it means. “Penta-” means “five” (like a pentagon has five sides) and “meter” is just another word for “rhythm” or “beat.” This beat has five sets of iambs, and each iamb is two syllables long, making ten syllables total. Are you still with me? Each iamb has one stressed syllable and one unstressed. The stressed syllables just have a little extra emphasis. Basically, it sounds like “dum-DUM dum-DUM dum-DUM dum-DUM dum-DUM.” In the example above, we marked the stressed syllables with “/” above them and the unstressed syllables with “u.” Try reading it aloud and see if you can get the rhythm.
“Iambic
pentameter is rap. It’s the structure.” - Tupac Shakur
What do you think Tupac means by this? Of course, most rap is not written in iambic pentameter. To mix things up, poets and rap artists use lots of different meters in their songs. Shakespeare mixed things up, too, when he wanted to make certian points, but rap artists use “irregular” meter more frequently. ACTIVITY: Pick a rap or hip-hop song that you like and print the lyrics from the internet (let’s try to keep it clean, okay?) Read it aloud to get a feel for the rhythm. Now look closer. Is there a rhyme scheme? Are there the same amount of syllables in each line or not? Now try marking the stressed and unstressed beats. If you’re feeling creative, try writing your own poem. Pick a style and have fun!
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For more of Shakespeare’s grammatical clues, visit: www.bardweb.net/grammar/02rhetoric.html
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