What to do for Monday, March 7^th:

Read about Shakespeare’s use of the English language:

• Shakespeare Alive: read 164-176 and answer these questions:
  • What did “rhetoric” mean to that age, and what are some examples of its use in Shakespeare?
  • Write about Shakespeare’s fondness for puns.
  • What is blank verse? And why was it used in plays?
  • What was the state of the English language when Shakespeare wrote?
  • In what ways was the English which Shakespeare inherited a mix of many languages—and how did Shakespeare use some of these languages?
  • Give some examples that show Shakespeare switching around parts of speech.
  • Talk about his compounds.
  • Why is Shakespeare difficult to understand?

• The Riverside Shakespeare: Read pages 8-14 and answer these questions:
  • What are some examples of words that have changed meaning over time?
  • What are some advantages to the English language to a writer?
  • How big was Shakespeare’s vocabulary? How big is yours?
  • How do syllables slow and speed up a line?
  • In English, you can “transpose parts of speech.” What does this mean, and give a few examples.
  • How have syllables and pronunciation changed over time?
  • What are some words and phrases which Shakespeare invented?
  • In what ways did Shakespeare vary the blank-verse line? And how did this change over the time of his writing career?
  • Write about his use of similes and metaphors.
  • Write about his use of imagery.

And…

• Read Sonnet 30.
• Read the first act of Merchant of Venice.
• Movies: I don’t know what to do. No one showed up for last Friday’s movies, so I think I’ll just mark it as extra credit for those who watched them already.
• Writing: I want your next piece of writing to be more imaginative. I want you to become a character in Elizabethan times and to write about your life in a creative, imaginative story. This will include many of the topics we’ve read about the last two weeks:
  • Beliefs at the time; life in the country and in London; politics and religion;
  • The theater before and after Shakespeare came along; the life in the theaters, the scripts, the hierarchy, the audiences, the theaters themselves, the Master of Revels,…
  • The English language.

Add to this some content about an actual play, Macbeth, that you went to see or that you’re acting in.

Due date: Monday, March 14^th (bring your cassette tape, too).