How to Read Shakespeare
• Sometimes, the language of Shakespeare
can seem overwhelming.
• Break it down into segments and handle
each one individually.
Let’s try breaking it down…
• “I had been happy if the general camp,
pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet
body, so I had nothing known.”
(Othello, III.iii.345-347)
Huh?!?
This is a pretty tough line, so let’s cut it up,
shall we?
Lets try breaking it down…
• “I had been happy…”
• We know that “had” could be “would
have,”
•
It’s probably, “I would have been happy.”
Let’s try breaking it down…
• “…if the general camp, pioneers and
all…”
• Your notes should tell you that “the
general camp” is all regular people, and
that “pioneers” are lower-class laborers.
Let’s try breaking it down…
• “…had tasted her sweet body…”
• A.K.A.: Had slept with her.
Let’s try breaking it down…
• “…so I had nothing known.”
• We’ll have to apply a couple of our
previous concepts here. “So” probably
means “so long as.”
• And “nothing known” is one of those
awkward word switches. It’s probably,
“known nothing.”
Now let’s put it back together…
“I had been happy if the general camp,
pioneers and all, had tasted her sweet
body, so I had nothing known.”
• “I would have been happy if everybody,
even laborers, had slept with her, so long
as I knew nothing.”
Let’s get started!
• First identify the rhyme scheme of the
prologue…
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
a
b
a
b
c
d
c
d
e
f
e
f
g
g
Now identify the parts
of the sonnet
How are the first 12 lines
organized?
They are divided into three
quatrains with four lines each.
What are the last
two lines called?
They are a rhyming couplet.
Meter
The rhythmical pattern of
a poem. It is determined
by the number and types
of stresses, or beats, in
each line.
Scanning a poem for meter
Scanning is to mark
the stressed and
unstressed syllables.
Iambic pentameter
• An iamb consists of one unstressed and one
stressed syllable. If you read music, it is similar
to a measure. It is also called a foot. Feet are
divided by a vertical line according to syllable.
• Pentameter refers to the number of iambic feet
in a line. There are ten syllables, making up five
iambic feet per line.
• We mark it with ﬞ (unstressed) and ′ (stressed)
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
ﬞ ′
Two house|holds, both| alike| in dig|nity,
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
In fair| Vero|na, where| we lay| our scene,
Modified iambic pentameter
• Remember that Shakespeare used the
words the way we say them. We don’t say
houseHOLD. It’s HOUSEhold.
• Sometimes the meter doesn’t quite match
the formula. We call it modified.
ﬞ
′ ﬞ ′
ﬞ
′ ﬞ
′ ﬞ
′
Whose mis|adven|tured pi|teous o|verthrows
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
′ ﬞ
ﬞ
′
ﬞ
′
Do with|their death|bury|their par|ents' strife.
Notice that the symbols are reversed on
bury because we pronounce the word with
the stress on the first syllable.
Independent Practice
• Now you will finish the iambic pentameter
for the rest of the prologue on your own. I
will be around to help you if needed.
Prologue Vocabulary
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Dignity – wealthy; respected
Grudge – constant conflict
Piteous – pitiful; disgraceful
Mend – to put right; repair
Misadventured - misfortune; unlucky
Strife – conflict; trouble
Mutiny – rebellion; an uprising; fighting
Loins – offspring
Toil – work hard; labor; strive
Naught – nothing
But – except for