Shakespeare for Students: The Language of Shakespeare

Part of the three-volume Shakespeare for Students series designed to enrich viewers' understanding of the Bard's masterworks, The Language of Shakespeare looks at Will's way with words. Employing onscreen quotes—with citations—to illustrate points, two young hosts examine several different aspects of Shakespearean language, including frequently used archaic words (like “prithee” for “I pray thee”), shifts in meaning (“nice” used to refer to something trivial or petty), the careful arrangement of words for the purposes of rhythm or emphasis, the appearance of new phrases that are now familiar (such as “wild goose chase”), the heavy use of puns, and the differences between prose and verse (and why characters adopt one form or the other), as well as a brief consideration of the sonnets. Drawing examples from Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Hamlet, The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, and others, this is a well-organized, entertaining, and enlightening survey of the Bard's English (with a downloadable teacher's guide). The other titles in the series include The Characters of Shakespeare and Key Passages in Shakespeare's Plays. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: J, H, P. (J. Williams-Wood)