Shakespearian Writing

Prose and Verse

Shakespeare wrote plays alternating the use of both verse and prose

Prose is everyday language of communication (conversation, letters, lectures, articles, dialogue, books, texts, etc.)

Verse is a collection of lines that follow a HIGHLY STRUCTURED regular, rhythmic pattern

Prose by Shakespeare

FOLLOWS standard sentence and paragraph rules and structures

– Follows regular standard English capitalization rules

– Uses full lines across the page (equal margins)

– Does not rhyme– Does not count syllables

Shakespeare used prose to:

1. Express ordinary, observations that have a literal meaning

2. Make “one-liners” which are essential in everyday conversation

3. Present relief from the overuse of verse (requires intellectual effort to read and understand)

Use of prose ctd…

4. Suggest madness, senility, or drunkenness

5. Poke fun at characters who lack the wit or intelligence to versify their lines

6. Condone the use and merits of prose as an equal writing medium to verse

Verse by Shakespeare

The beginning of each line is capitalized

The lines do not utilize a full margin (shorter)

They are written in a specific structured rhythm called iambic pentameter

Shakespeare used verse to:

1. Express deep emotion requiring elevated language

2. Make wise, penetrating, reflective, organized observations requiring lofty language

3. Present a lyrical poem in a separate entity

4. Inject irony by use of a particular character

Syllables

Syllable: unit of spoken language consisting of an uninterrupted utterance that forms a whole word (cat) or a commonly recognized division of a word (per-fect-ly)

How many syllables?

chair beg apple lunch

computer bizarre hope eat

book capitulate alligator resume

Russell disdainful monitor crate

university justify principal puppy

Literary Foot Foot: basic unit of meter, set # of

strong and light stressed syllables Example: an iamb is one type of foot Iamb: is a light/strong pattern of two

syllables Example: Detroit

– de (light: symbol = u) - TROIT (STRONG: symbol = /) ->

– De (u) - TROIT (/)

Meter

Meter: # of feet in a line of verse Examples: Pentameter is an example

of meter Pentameter: the prefix penta means

five - there are five feet in a line of pentameter

Rhythm Rhythm: the combination of foot and

meter in a line of verse Example: Iambic Pentemeter is a type

of rhythm Iambic Pentameter: is one line of verse

consisting of five light/strong syllables in a row (10 total)

Example: We(u) hold(/) these(u) truths(/) to(u) be(/) self(u) ev(/)-i(u)-dent(/)– Stress the strong syllables (deTROIT)!

Shakespearian Sonnets

Shakespeare wrote over 150 sonnets

They have 14 lines and four parts – 3 quatrains (4 lines): present a problem– 1 heroic couplet (2 lines) : present a

solution

Shakespearian Sonnets ctd.

They all use the verse iambic pentameter

They have a distinct rhyme scheme: pattern of the rhymes between the last words of each line– ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG (all matching

letters must rhyme)