THE ORIGINAL SPEECH Poetry versus Prose Hedges This

THE ORIGINAL SPEECH Poetry versus Prose

Hedges: This was no man. Does a man have teeth the size of axe blades? Or ears like terrible tombstones? By tampering with nature, forcing vegetables to swell far beyond their natural size, we have brought a terrible judgement on ourselves.

To rewrite the speech in poetry it would look like this. . .

Hedges: This was no man. Does a man have teeth The size of axe blades? Or ears like terrible tombstones? By tampering with nature, forcing vegetables to swell Far beyond their natural size, we have brought A terrible judgement on ourselves.

People write in sentences and speak in thoughts: If the speech was broken down into parcels of sense or thoughts, it would probably look more like this. . .

Hedges: This was no man. Does a man have teeth the size of axe blades? Or ears like terrible tombstones? By tampering with nature, forcing vegetables to swell far beyond their natural size, we have brought a terrible judgement on ourselves.

WHAT SHAKESPEARE MEANS TO US “To be, or not to be – that is the question. . . ” “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. . . ” “A horse! My kingdom for a horse. . . ”

WHY YOU CAN’T JUSTTRANSLATE. . . “To be, or not to be? ” vs. “Shall I live, or shall I kill myself? ”

LOST IN TRANSLATION “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” Could translate as. . . “The whiskey is great, but the steak is terrible”

PROSE VERSUS POETRY Prose – writing which reflects the rhythm of everyday English speech. Doesn’t have rhythmical units and no structured number of syllables per line Blank Verse – which has a metric structure but doesn’t rhyme (e. g. Iambic pentameter) Rhyming Verse – as above, but which a rhyming scheme Sonnet – a verse consisting of 14 lines of iambic pentameter. Rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg. Song

IAMBIC PENTAMETER Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Shall I com-pare thee to a sum-mer’s day? x / x / x / 10 pairs of syllables, one weak, one stressed which creates a steady rhythm De-DUM, De-DUM,

PROSE VERSUS POETRY HAMLET To be, or not to be – that is the question; Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them

PROSE BENEDICK This can be no trick. The conference was sadly borne. They have the truth of it from Hero. They seem to pity the lady; it seems her affections have their full bent. Love me?

BENEDICK IN BLANK VERSE BENEDICK This can be no trick. The conference was Sadly borne. They have the truth of it from Hero. They seem to pity the lady; It seems her affections have their full bent. Love me?

WHERE ARE THE FULL STOPS? PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night. Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king. She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild. But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy.

WHERE ARE THE FULL STOPS? MACBETH If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success - that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all! - here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust. . .

PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night. Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king. She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild. But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy. MACBETH If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well It were done quickly. If the assassination Could trammel up the consequence, and catch With his surcease success - that but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all! - here, But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases We still have judgment here; that we but teach Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice To our own lips. He's here in double trust. . .

MACBETH 1. If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well 2. It were done quickly. If the assassination 3. Could trammel up the consequence, and catch 4. With his surcease success - that but this blow 5. Might be the be-all and the end-all! - here, 6. But here, upon this bank and shoal of time, 7. We'd jump the life to come. But in these cases 8. We still have judgment here; that we but teach 9. Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return 10. To plague the inventor. This even-handed justice 11. Commends the ingredients of our poison'd chalice 12. To our own lips. He's here in double trust. . .

Line Syllable 12 11 10 9 8 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Line Syllable 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

SHARED LINES AND PAUSES MACBETH Hath he asked for me? LADY Know you not he has?

SHARED LINES AND PAUSES MACBETH Thou canst not say I did it; never shake Thy gory locks at me. ROSS Gentlemen, rise. His highness is not well

SHAKESPEARE DETECTIVES, WHAT TO LOOK FOR: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Look at the extract: does it have a rhyme scheme? Does each line begin with a capital letter? Or are the words closer to natural speech? (Verse, Blank Verse or Prose) Does the extract change between any of the above? If so, what could that mean is happening to the characters? Is there a regular, structured rhythm like iambic pentameter or does it jump all over the place? If it does, what does this say about the characters’ state of mind? Do the syllables add up to 10 between shared lines or should they be left as pauses? Are there any words you don’t recognise? Can you work out the meaning from the rest of the line or do you have to look it up? Is the speech complicated or simple? Are there midline endings, shared or short lines of meter? If there are mid-line endings, what kind of emotions might be making the characters interrupt themselves? If there are shared lines of metre, what does that say about the characters’ relationships? If there are short lines of metre, what might the character be doing or saying in the gap? Do the characters use thou/you to each other? Do they switch? If so, why?