SHAKESPEARE AND EARLY MODERN ENGLISH

1. Define and explain, The Great Vowel Shift.
The Great Vowel Shift was a major change in the pronunciation of the English language that took place in the south of England between 1200 and 1600, it was in Old English. The Great Vowel Shift is one of the historical events marking the separation of Middle and Modern English, mainly in the pronunciation.

2. Name 5 dialects of Modern English.
American English, Australian English, Indo-Pakistani English, New Zealand English, Philippine English.

3. One of the problems with Early Modern English was a lack of uniformity in spelling. Which 2 people (1-English, 1-American) helped establish standardized spelling?
English: Samuel Johnson, American: Noah Webster.

4. How many countries in the world have given Modern English official status?
Fifty three countries

5. The most recent statistics show that approximately how many people speak Modern English as a:I. First language? 309–400 million
II. Second Language? 199–1,400 million
There are over 508 million speakers of English.

6. When was Early Modern English spoken?
It was spoken between 1500 – 1650 AD.

7. How are the use of Pronouns different between Early Modern & Modern English?
In Early Modern English, there were two second-person personal pronouns: thou, the informal singular pronoun, and ye, which was both the plural pronoun and the formal singular pronoun. In Modern English the pronouns were much the same as today. One difference is that, much as a becomes an before a vowel, my and thy became mine and thine before vowels as well; hence, mine eyes, thine uncle, and so on.

8. Which language families does Modern English belong in?
American English, Australian English, British English, Canadian English, Caribbean English, Hiberno-English, Indo-Pakistani English, New Zealand English, Philippine English, Singaporean English, and South African English.

9. Name 4 worldwide uses for Modern English.
There are diverse uses as controlling airplanes, developing software, conducting international diplomacy, and business relations.

10. In your opinion, what was the greatest influence on the spread of Modern English around the world? Why?
I think one of the most important was the literature because people could know different stories, share and enjoy with other seeing plays and after obviously an important thing was the music.

11. There has been a lot of controversy over the true authorship of Shakespeare's writings. Which 3 people are also candidates as the possible authors of Shakespeare's plays?
The possible authors are Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, and Edward de Vere.

12. Briefly explain The Oxfordian Theory.
The Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship holds that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), wrote the plays and poems attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. The case for Oxford's authorship is based on perceived similarities between Oxford's biography and events in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets; parallels of language, idiom, and thought between Oxford's letters and the Shakespearean canon; and underlined passages in Oxford's Bible that may correspond to quotations in Shakespeare's plays.

13. Shakespeare wrote 38 plays, which according to the Folio Classification, fall into 3 categories. Name the 3 categories.
The categories are: Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.

14. In which town was Shakespeare born?
He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon.

15. Which famous London theatre (built by actors, for actors) is connected with Shakespeare's plays?
The Globe Theatre.

16. Even though Richard III is the most performed play, Hamlet is Shakespeare's most famous play. In your opinion, what does this portion of Hamlet's famous soliloquy mean:

To be or not to be, that is the question;Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep;No more; and by a sleep to say we endThe heart-ache and the thousand natural shocksThat flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummationDevoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,...

17. Name 5 post-Shakespearean artists whose work was heavily influenced by the writings of William Shakespeare.
Thomas Hardy, William Faulkner, Charles Dickens, Herman Melville and Henry Fuseli.

18. Which of Shakespeare's plays are included in The Wars of the Roses series?
19. Shakespeare wrote most of his works in blank verse composed in iambic pentameter. What is blank verse & iambic pentameter?
This means that his verse was usually unrhymed and consisted of ten syllables to a line, spoken with a stress on every second syllable. Its sentences tend to start, pause, and finish at the end of lines, with the risk of monotony.

20. Name 4 actors from Shakepeare's original company.
Richard Burbage, William Kempe, Henry Condell and John Heminges.

21. What were the Wars of the Roses (1377-1485)?
The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England.

22. Why was this war called the Wars of the Roses?
It has its origins in the badges associated with the two royal houses, although the roses were occasionally used as symbols during the wars, most of the participants wore badges associated with their immediate feudal lords or protectors.

23. What were the names of the 2 houses which fought in this war?
The White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster.

24. What prompted this civil war to begin?
The overthrow of King Richard II by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, in 1399. Richard II's government had been highly unpopular and Bolingbroke returned from exile, initially to reclaim his rights as Duke of Lancaster.

25. How did the war end?
The war ended with the victory of the Lancastrian Henry Tudor, who founded the House of Tudor which subsequently ruled England and Wales for 116 years.

26. Which Kings of England were participants in the Wars of the Roses?
The Yorkists: King Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and Duke of York.
The Lancastrians: King Henry VI, Duke Somerset, Henry VII, Margaret of Anjou, Duke of Buckingham, and Thomas Percy.

WRITERS ON WRITING

Answer the following questions on your blog site;based on the information you gathered from the video clips and the biographies.

what are some of the fears these highly successful writers have about writing? John Grisham thinks that the hardest part of writing is laying out the whole book and when he has to face the final dateline.

• I am Mcewan says that for him is to catch the reader's interest other wise his writing would be a failure.
• Margaret Atwood says that the most difficult issue is beginning to write and convincing herself it is going forward.
• Salman Rushdie says that the hardest part is having complete control on a given situation,though a lot of events affected him when he was writing so he needs to keep calm to produce a new book otherwise he can't do what he is suppossed to be doing.
• Paul Auster fears life itself saying that life is unexpected.

-What are some of the difficulties they have when they are writing?

Some say to be calm in order to write properly,others nto work against that final dateline, other facing boredom when writing a novel.

-What are some of the positive aspects to writing?

Some of the positive aspects of writing is that it help you to overcome your own personal fears or problems in real life.Experiencing enormous emotion and intellect.Another aspect is that a writer is always taking big risks.

-Do you feel these authors enjoy being writers?why?

they all enjoy being writers,they can't imagine life without writing.

-Is reading an important facet of writing?why?

yes,It is an important facet of writing because you develop different skills for example vocabulary and punctuation.

-In your opinion ,what are the most important things which will make your writing successful?

The most important is knowing that I want to express with my writing ,put pen to paper,to focus on what you want to say no matter what is going on outside your book,to be disciplined in order to spend most of the time laying out your book,to catch the interest of the public so as they keep on reading without leaving the book aside.

Assignment:Old english Beowulf

1-When was old English Spoken?
Between the mid 5 th century and the mid 12 th century.



2-Name 4 language groups which influenced the development of old English.
Angles,West Germanic,Jutes and Latin.

• 3-Inthe phonology section,name 5phonetical differences between Old English &Modern English.
  
  The Old English has six diphtongs,but in Modern English there are eight.


• Old English has fourteen vowels,but Modern English has just twelve.

4-Are there any similarites between Old English and Modern English?

They are very similar according to phonetics,writing,consonants and allophones.

5-In the Orthography section,enlarge the picture of the runic alphabet.How many letters (runes) are there in this alphabet?

I believe there are 34 runes in the alphabet.

6-Which epic poem was originally written in Old English?

Beowulf

7-In the see also section,click on:Beowulf.Appoximately when was Beowulf written?

Between the 8 th and the early 11 th century.

8-Even though Beowulf was written in England ,the story takes place in which countries?

In Scandinavia and North Germanic (East of Rhine) residing in modern day southern Sweden and on The Danish islands (and later Jutland).

9-In the poem,which 3 antagonists does Beowulf battle or fight against?

Beowulf battles against Grendel,Grendel's mother and the dragon.

10-What happens to Beowulf at the end of the story?

Beowulf defeats the dragon,but is dies .he is buried in a tumulus by the sea.

11-Who was the author of Beowulf?

Nobody knows,he's unknown.

12- What were the titles and the dates of the two film versions of Beowulf?

Beowulf(1999 film)

Beowulf &Grendel(2005 film)

Beowulf(2007 film)

LITERATURE ASSIGNMENT?

1-Approximately when was middle English spoken?

Between the late 11 th century and about 1470.

2-what were the major factors which to the development and the spread of Middle English?

That time the variant of the Northumbrian dialect spoken in Southeast Scotland was developing into the Scots language.The language of Enland as used after this time,up to 1650,is known as EarlyModern English.

3-Match the following old English words with their Anglo-Norman equivalent:

• Pig Pork


• Cow Beef


• Wood Forest


• Sheep Mutton


• House Mansion


• Worthy Honourable


• Bold Courageous

4-Compare & contrast the structure of nouns,pronouns,and verbs ,between,Middle English &Modern English.

The grammar of Middle English is much closer to modern English than Old English .It is probably most similar to modern Duch.In modern English we can find the disuse of the T-V distinction (thou,ye);the use of auxiliary verbs becomes mandatory in interrogative sentences
and the rise and fall of prescriptive grammarians.In terms of nouns,the strong (-e)s plural form has survived into Modern English.The weak(-e)n form is now rare in the standard language ,used only in oxen,children and brethren;and it is slightly less rare in some dialects,used in eyen for eyes ,shoon for shoes,hosen for hose(s)and kine for cows.In terms of verbs,as a general rule,the first person singular of verbs in the present tense ends in (-e) ("ich here" "I hear"),the second person in (-e)st ("bou spekest","thou speakest"),and the third person in (-ep) ("he comep" -"he cometh/he comes").(b is pronounced like the unvoiced th in think).In the past tense,weak verbs are formed by adding an -ed(e),-d(e) or -t(e) ending.These ,without their personal endings,also form past participles,together with past-participle prefixex derived from Old English:i ,y- and something bi-.Strong verbs,by contrast,form their past tense by changing their stem vowel(e.g binden -bound),as in Modern English.In terms of pronouns,the first and second person pronouns in Old English survived into Middle English largely unchanged,with only minor spelling variations.In the third person ,the masculine singular became "him".The feminine form was replaced by a form of the demostrative that developed into "she",but unsteadily-"ho" remained in some areas for a long time.The lack of a strong standard written form between the eleventh and the fifteenth century makes these changes hard to map.the overall trend was the gradual reduction in the number of different case endings:the dative case disappeared,but the three other cases were partly retained in personal pronouns,as in he,him,his.

5-How is pronunciation different between Middle English and Modern English?

All letters in Middle English words were pronounced.Silent letters in Modern English come from pronunciation shifts,which mean that pronunciation is no longer closely reflected by the written form because of fixed spelling constraints imposed by the invention of dictionaries and printing.The word knight was pronounced /knict/(with a pronounced /k/ and the /gh/as the /ch/ in German "knecht",not /nait/ as in Modern English.

6-What is the Chancery Standard,and How did it come into effect?

Chancery Standard was a written form of English used by government bureaucracyfrom the late 15th century,and because of the differing dialects of English spoken and written across the the country at the time,the government needed a clear and unambiguous form for use in its official documents.Chancery Standard was developed to meet this need.

7-Who wrote the Canterbury tales?

Geoffrey Chaucer.

8-Describe the medieval pilgrims who journeyed from Canterbury to London.

The pilgrimage was a very prominent feature of medieval society.they would frequently journey to cathedrals that preserved relics of saints;they believed that such relics had miraculous powers.Pilgrimages also represented the mortal journey to heaven through the struggles of mortal life.

9-Why did the pilgrims take this journey?

Canterbury was a popular destination within England.Saint Thomas Becket,Archbishop of Canterbury,had been killed in the Canterbury cathedral by knights who had misunderstood Henry It's order during a disagreement between him and Backet.Miracle stories connected to his remains began to spring up soon after his death,and the area became a popular pilgrimage destination.For that reason they wanted to find tha holy blessed martyr.

10-It is thought that some of the stories in the Canterbury Tales originated in Italy.What was the name of the Italian book and who wrote it?

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio

11-The Canterbury Tales is considered an extremaly important book,both in terms of English Literature &in the history of English writing.In your opinion,why is this book so important?

I considered this book very important because it shows culture and stylelife of this period.

12-Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is:

a)A collection of German folk tales,similar to Grimm's Fairy Tales.

b)A collection of Japanese ghost stories,similar to Kwaidan.

c)A detailed explanation of the proper etiquette & behaviour for all knights in Medieval Europe.

d)A medieval romance poem,with Arthurian themes.

e)None of the above.

f)All of the above.

13-Who is Sir Gawain?

Sir Gawain,the youngest of Arthur's knights and nephew to the king,accepts the Green knight's challenge.

14-What is the challenge that The Greem knight proposes to the knights of the Round Table?

Green night asks for someone inthe court to strike him once with his axe,on condition that The Green Knight will return the blow one year and one day later.

15-What is the similarity between Sir Gawain and The Green Knight and the Irish tale of Cúchulainn?

The earliest known story to feature a beheading game is the 8 th century Middle Irish tale Bricriu's Feast this story parallels Gawain in that,like the Green Knight,Cú chulainn's antagonist feints three blows with the axe before letting his target depart without injury.

16-What is the importance of the pentagram /pentangle in the poem?

The pentangle on Gawain`s shield is seen by many critics as signifying Gawain's perfection and power over evil.

17-How are numbers used to symbolize events in the poem?

The poet there are numbers symbolism to add symmetry and meaning to the poem .for example,Bertilak goes hunting three times,and the Green Knight swings at Gawain three times with his axe,three kisses are exchanged between Gawain and Bertilak's wife,Gawain is tempted by her on three separete days.

18-What is the significance of Sir Gaawain's neck wound?

In this ceentury,the body and soul were believed to be so intimately connected that wounds were considered an outward sign of inward sin.Specifically,the neck was believed to correlate with the part of the soul related to will,connecting the reasoning part(the head)and the courageous part(the heart).

19-Which actor played The Green Knight in the film adaptation,Sword of the Valiant?

The actor who played in the film was Sean Connery as the Green Knight.

20- In many ways this poem is ,in the modern sense,a soap opera.Compare Sir Gawain and the Green Knight with a modern Chilean teleseries.

my face

HI! ALL PEOPLE

I`m Pula I have curly long hear,I like dancing with my parents and my frends, I love beach in spring .

my dream is live in an island with a lot flowers and smok weed everyday jajajaja of curse with my frends and Ican play drums and sing all the naight.

I hope that this semmestre like very well and we practice englesh in all place.

e.g in a party, in a dinner with your parents wherever!!!

see you on web!!!