Cassidy Cash, the podcast host of That Shakespeare Life, interviews Shane Ann about iambic pentameter in Shakespeare’s plays. Iambic pentameter verse consists of five feet (a foot is an iamb). Each foot is made up of two syllables – one syllable is stressed and the other is unstressed. Pentameter is taken from the Greek word “penta” meaning five. Therefore, iambic … Read More
Original Pronunciation – Interview with Jennifer Geizhals
Original pronunciation is a popular topic among actors, directors, linguists and scholars. OP, as it is called, is the dialect spoken in Shakespeare’s time. We cannot be 100% certain as to how the dialect sounded when Shakespeare wrote his plays because there weren’t any recordings but linguists have found many clues in the plays and sonnets. I was speaking with … Read More
Scanning the Verse
Pronouncing Shakespeare by Scanning the Lines. Many of the suggested pronunciations in this dictionary are influenced by Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter. It was the staple of English poetry from the time of Chaucer until the turn of the last century when free verse (that is, verse written outside of a metrical form) came into play. The verse form and … Read More
Words To Watch Out For
The Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App: The Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App is a Shakespeare pronunciation Dictionary. This section offers brief observations on the poetic diction of each play. Each entry notes the percentage of prose and/or verse in a given play, as well as the amount of rhyming verse, if significant. It also includes a sampling of contractions and of words … Read More
Features of the Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App
Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App The Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App, is for anyone who is acting in Shakespeare’s plays or is teaching the plays or just likes to read the plays. The actors or readers have a quick access to the pronunciations of the words in all of the plays. This includes character and place names as well as any unusual … Read More
Why Use the Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App?
Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App. While listening to the Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App one might ask: Why are correct pronunciations in Shakespeare important? The primary reason is consistency. All of the characters inhabiting the world of the play should be consistent. For example, everyone says roh-SIL-yuhn for the Countess in All’s Well that Ends Well so we know that they all … Read More
Accents Dialects and Foreign Languages
Accents, Dialects and Foreign Languages. In some plays, accents are required of characters whose native language is not English. This occurs in both The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V. In the former, Dr. Caius, the physician, speaks English with a French accent and Hugh Evans, the schoolmaster, speaks English with a Welsh accent. The different accents of the … Read More
Latin
In an attempt at consistency, the pronunciations in the Audio Shakespeare Pronunciation App are rendered into what is commonly referred to as “restored” or classical Latin. Many Latin words and phrases have entered the English language. Clearly, it is best to pronounce these in the manner with which the audience is most familiar. Thus, the letter c is always hard … Read More
Shakespeare Pronouncing Dictionary – “All the Words on Stage”.
“All English words in this Shakespeare dictionary, including words absorbed into English from other languages, are listed alphabetically.” Latin words and phrases are arranged alphabetically in their own section. We have chosen not to include malaprops or comic blunders. We believe that each actor should be free to develop a pronunciation for these words. As much as possible, we have … Read More