WHY ARE THE FOLLOWING IMPORTANT?

 

1.       The Great Bible was Henry VIII’s version which was written in a quite complex English, not everyone could understand it.

(There appeared what is known as the Great Bible in 1539, also compiled by Myles Coverdale. The Great Bible was issued to meet a decree that each church should make available in some convenient place the largest possible copy of the whole Bible, where all the parishioners could have access to it and read it at their will (wikipedia)

The new translation, the King James’ Version of the Bible, was written in plain talking (very simple but very effective language) and achieved the majestic effects of its prose with barely 8.000.

(The King James Version (KJV), or Authorized Version is an English translation of the Holy Bible, commissioned for the benefit of the Church of England at the behest of James I of England. First published in 1611, it has had a profound impact not only on most English translations that have followed it, but also on English literature as a whole (wikipedia)

  1. English Renaissance: A period of great growth of English Language (the Renaissance contributed to the influx of words from Latin and Greek)
  2. Book of Common Prayer expresses the rites of passage in the English Church, from the cradle to the grave: “renounce the devil and all his works”, “give us this day our daily bread”, “with this ring I thee wed”, earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes”
  3. Royal Shakespeare Company is one of the best known theatre companies in the world, operating under its present name since 1961. However the RSC's roots stretch back to the building of the first permanent theatre in Stratford. In 1875, Charles Edward Flower, a Stratford brewer, launched an international campaign to build a theatre in the town of Shakespeare's birth. His donation of the now famous two-acre site began a family tradition of generosity to the theatre which continues today. The Shakespeare Memorial Theatre was a Victorian Gothic building. It opened in 1879 with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing. From 1907 star visitors began to appear in Stratford such as Ellen Terry and H Beerbohm Tree and under the direction of F R Benson, a month-long summer season was added in 1910. Europe and the USA helped to broaden the company's outlook.

The aim of the RSC is to keep modern audiences in touch with Shakespeare as our contemporary. That means that as well as the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, our repertoire includes classic plays by international dramatists and work by living writers (http://www.rsc.org.uk )

 

MATCHING EXERCISE: PLACES

1. Stratford-on-Avon – Birth place of Shakespeare       

2. Cambridge University - Translation of Authorised Version    

3. Warwickshire - Country vocabulary

4. London - Where Shakespeare wrote his plays

5. Australia - Penny Downey

 

MATCHING EXERCISE: PEOPLE

1. John Bois -The King James’ Version of the Bible (it was translated by a Committee; the best piece of literature in English)                                                                                 

2. Sir John Guilgud -Shakespearean acting                  

3. John Barton - E. Shakespearean director                 

4. Sir Thomas More - Latin borrowings: education     

5. Sir Frances Bacon - Greek Borrowings: skeleton    

6. Henry VIII -The Great Bible                                  

 

MATCHING EXERCISE: DATES

  1. 1558-1603- Reign of Elizabeth I (house of Tudor)
  2. 1603-1625- Reign of James I (house of Stuart)

3.1564 - Shakespeare born April 23 (?) in Stratford-on-Avon          

4.       1611 - King James Bible published       

 5.    1616 - Shakespeare dies April 23 of                

 6.    1623 - First Folio published

 

FILL IN THE FOLLOWING VERSE: The Creation

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light

And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness

And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night

 

QUESTIONS

  1. MacNeil asserts that the First Folio of Shakespeare has influenced everyone who speaks English today. What does he mean?

Shakespeare contributed a lot to the development of English language. He was a Renaissance man: all extravagance and English language, by his influence, experimented a real explosion (Shakespeare had around 34.000 words) As MacNeil says: “He had an inexhaustible passion for words; He has the largest vocabulary of any writer of English, approximately 34000 words, which is about double what an educated person uses today in their lifetime”.

·         He  was responsible for the inclusion of new words like obscene, submerge and many others.

·         The inclusion of quotations and phrases: “nothing will come for nothing

·         He changed grammatical classes : he made nouns into verbs: “he dukes it well” (he acts as a Duke) or “he pageants us” (he entertains)

Shakespeare words and phrases, had a direct influence on every one of us who speaks English today”

2. Shakespeare's range of language is remarkable. List three types of language he uses in his plays as they are discussed in this program. What is the dictionary definition of each?

a. pastoral-lyrical with Titania (like Cervantes) A pastoral place, atmosphere, or idea is characteristic of peaceful country life and scenery.

b. heroic  (with Henry the Fifth ) Heroic means being or relating to the hero of a story.

c. badwy (with Falstaff )A bawdy story or joke contains humorous references to sex.

Besides pidgin with Caloban, and philosophical with Hamlet among others.

 

3. Shakespeare's plays and the King James Bible are masterpieces, but there is one fundamental linguistic difference between them. What is it?

the King James’ Version  with barely 8,000 words is written in plain vocabulary so everyone could follow it and understand it while Shakespeare's vocabulary include around 34.000 words therefore,  his plays are  real pieces of innovation including lots of new terms and expressions made up by the writer.

4. Which version of the Bible does this quote belong to? “Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.” 

The King James' Version which is much more precise.