Shakespeare's Language

Units of Study

Shakespeare's Web Quest
Elizabethan Times
Shakespeare's Plays
Shakespeare's Language
Themes of Romeo & Juliet

Assignments for Shakespeare's Language Unit:

In this unit you will be studying various types of figurative language, writing some samples of figurative language yourself, discovering how Shakespeare used figurative language to entice the reader into his story, and learning the meanings to some common Elizabethan vocabulary.

There are four parts to this unit:

Figurative Language: What is It?
Give It a Try.
Discovering Shakespeare's Use of Figurative Language.
What Does It All Mean?

Go through each part and complete the tasks assigned.

Figurative Language: What is It?
Figurative language is language used in a special way to create a special effect. Sometimes it is language that is made up of words and phrases which don't mean what they first appear to mean.

Below are some techniques that writers use to create figurative language. Please use the links below to find the definitions for each of these literary terms. Once you have found the definitions to the terms, write those definitions in your own words on the Figurative Language Worksheet. You can print out a copy of that worksheet by clicking on the words 'FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE WORKSHEET'.

  • Alliteration
  • Allusion
  • Metaphor
  • Personification
  • Simile

LINKS:

http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/lausd/resources/shakespeare/Literary.Terms.html#Alliteration

http://academic.reed.edu/writing/paper_help/figurative_language.html

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9502/figrtv.html

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Give It a Try
Now it's your turn to give it a try. Look at the links below to find some examples of the five literary terms, which are written in poetry that should be more familiar to you than Shakespeare's writing. Look at how each of these writing techniques is used then write three examples of each of the five terms yourself. Turn these examples in to Mrs. Blocher. Some of these examples may find their way onto a "Student Example Page."

TERMS:

Alliteration:

http://alliteration.net/Pearl.htm
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112392/alliterationclassics.html?tqskip1=1&tqtime=041
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/walrus.html

Allusion:

http://www.loudoun.k12.va.us/schools/erms/langarts/kelsey/terms.html (referring to the book Fahrenheit 450)
http://www.free-essays.us/dbase/c6/dkt280.shtml
http://library.thinkquest.org/50084/editorials/model-angel.html

Metaphor:

http://www.columbia.edu/~mc2023/MetaText.htm
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_metaphor.html (at the very bottom of the page)
http://sunsite.dcc.uchile.cl/chile/misc/odas.html

Personification:

http://www.ketzle.com/frost/snowyeve.htm
http://www.favoritepoem.org/poems/frost/outout.html
http://www.the-office.com/bedtime-story/owlpussycat.htm

Simile:

http://homepages.tesco.net/~andy.oddjob/word10.htm
http://www.bangkokpost.net/education/site2003/ptmr1103.htm
http://www.weirdity.com/language/simile.shtml

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Discovering Shakespeare's Use of Figurative Language
Shakespeare is known for his prolific use of figurative language. First time readers of Shakespeare sometimes find it hard to understand the message behind the words because of his use of metaphor, simile, personification, alliteration and allusion.

Below are examples where Shakespeare used these literary devices. Look through this material and identify the literary device that Shakespeare used and then interpret his use of it. What is he trying to get across? Print the worksheet labeled "SHAKESPEARE'S USE OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE" and use it to record your answers.

  • #1) "My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
    My love as deep; the more I give to thee
    The more I have, for both are infinite.

    (Romeo and Juliet)

    #2) "My love is as a fever, longing still
    For that which longer nurseth the disease"

    (Sonnet CXLVII)

    #3) "But that the dread of something after death,The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveler returns,"

    (Hamlet)

    #4) ". . . And summer's lease hath all too short a date,

    Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines,

    And often is his gold complexion dimm'd, . . .

    Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,"

    (Sonnet XVIII)

    #5) "Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountaintops."

    (Romeo and Juliet)

    #6) “Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty…That unsubstantial Death is amorous, and that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour?”

    (Romeo and Juliet)

    #7) "Get your apparel together, good strings to your beards, new ribbons to your pumps; meet presently at the palace; "

    (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

    #8) "Where at, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely breach'd his boiling bloody breast."

    (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

    #9) "I swear to thee by Cupid’s strongest bow,
    By his best arrow with the golden head, "

    (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

    #10) "I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.
    Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell
    That summons thee to heaven or to hell."

    (MacBeth)

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What Does It All Mean?
Many of the words you will read in Shakespeare's plays will seem foreign to you. What did they mean back then? It is important for you to become familiar with some common language used by Shakespeare. Look at the links below and then print out the worksheet labeled "WHAT DID HE SAY?" Follow the directions on the worksheet and turn it in to Mrs. Blocher when you are done.

LINKS:

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Shakespeare's Web Quest | Elizabethan Times | Shakespeare's Plays | Shakespeare's Language | Themes of Romeo & Juliet

Laura Blocher
Date Last Modified: 4/20/2003