Elizabethan Drama

Why does this stuff sound so strange?

PronounsI. 2nd Person: Thee *Thou *Ye

1. They mean “you”2. Thou and Thee:

a. “Casual” version of “you”b. Used among friends, and low class peoplec. Can be used to “talk down” to someone, and in

love poetry…d. “Thy” and “thine” = “your”

3. You / Yea. More formal b. Used among upper class / polite companyc. Used when talking “up” to someone

Verb Forms

1. “T” endings (art, hast, etc)a. Used with 2nd person (you/thou)

2. “th” endings (hath , doth, etc.)a. Used with 3rd person (he / she / it)

“If thou lovest me” = “If you love me”

II. This stuff is poetry!

(No, people back then didn’t really talk like this - Just ask Nick Bottom)

1. It is Iambic Pentametera. Each line has ten syllables (pent = 5, and

meter = a metric foot, or 2 syllables, so pent-meter is 5 x 2, or 10 syllables)

b. Stress is on every other syllable - soft, then hard. Da DUM da DUM. Iambic simply means it does this.

c. So, a line of iambic pentameter is 10 syllables that go da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM

d. Example:

e. Now fair Hippolyta, our nuptual hour Draws on apace. Four happy days bring in (I.I. 1-2)

2. Iambic Pentameter can take 2 forms:

a. Rhymed Verse: endings of lines rhyme

i. Often used for “love discussions, and by romantic or magic people / creatures

ii. Example:

By the simplicity of Venus’ dovesBy that which knitteth souls and

prospers loves

b. Blank Verse, where lines do not rhymei. In MND, most upper class people speak

this way.ii. Example:

Or if there were a sympathy in choice,

War death or sickness did lay siege to it,

Making it momentany as a sound,

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream

(I.I. 143-146)

How on earth do you write ENTIRE PLAYS in this

format???

It’s Easy….

Cheat!

How to cheat like an Elizabethan:1. Rearrange word order.

1. Example:Thou hast sung at her window by

moonlight:Here, the syllables aren’t iambic… so,

we write it this way:

Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung

2. Leave out some syllables (make contractions)a. Example:“Quenched in the chaste beams of the watery moon And the imperial voteress passed on”

Each line has eleven syllables so, to make it pentameter, we write it this way:

“Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon And the imperial vot’ress passed on”

3. Leave out some wordsa. Example:“Ay there it is.”

“I pray thee, give it to me”

Here, two lines combine into 1 line of iambic pentameter, but it has 1 too many syllables… so, we do this:

“Ay there it is.”“I pray thee, give it me”

Now it’s 10 syllables…

Why write all this stuff in poetry?

In MND, it ISN’T all poetry!

a. Poetry is used in specific situations:

i. Upper class people use iambic pentameter. They may also rhyme when:

1. They are discussing love / romance2. The speaker is magical / non-human

b. Prose is used in specific situations:i. Lower class people speak “normally”

1. This is how “real” Elizabethans would have sounded on the streets of England.“Here is the scroll of every man’s name which is thought fit, through all Athens, to play in our interlude before the Duke and the Duchess on his wedding day at night.”

Notice how it’s not very different from us today?

That’s It!

So, as you read the play, use this information to help you understand WHAT they are saying and WHY they are saying it…

Good Luck!