“Lupercalia, of which many write that it was anciently celebrated by shepherds, and has also some connection with the Arcadian Lycaea. At this time many of the noble youths and of the magistrates run up and down through the city naked, for sport and laughter striking those they meet with shaggy thongs. And many women of rank also purposely get in their way, and like children at school present their hands to be struck, believing that the pregnant will thus be helped in delivery, and the barren to pregnancy” (wikipedia.org).

˘ / ˘ / ˘ /To be | or not | to be,

/ ˘ ˘ / ˘ that is | the ques- tion

Hamlet

http://www.independent.co.uk

Ten syllables in each line Five pairs of alternating unstressed

and stressed syllables The rhythm in each line sounds like:

ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM

One iamb is a pair of syllables, with one stressed and one unstressed (ba-BUM) http://shakespeare.about.com/od/

shakespeareslanguage/a/i_pentameter.htm

http://www.real-college-life.com

Blank Verse is poetry that is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

often unobtrusive, and the iambic pentameter form often resembles the rhythms of ordinary speech.

William Shakespeare wrote most of his plays in blank verse. http://shakespeare.about.com/od/

shakespeareslanguage/a/i_pentameter.htm

Prose is defined as “not poetry.”› It’s the regular, non-rhythmic, non-rhymed

speech that you and I use every day This LOOKS different from blank verse

on the page Some characters use prose

› This is meant to suggest something about their character/personality

Modern English follows a familiar pattern: › Subject (S), Verb (V), Object (O)› Ex. Aidan caught the ball

Rules of grammar didn’t exist in Shakespeare’s time like they do now. He could switch this order up!

He used this to his advantage in order to fit the rhythm

He often used SOV or OSV constructions› Ex. (SOV) Aidan the ball caught› Ex. (OSV) The ball Aidan caught

pun  /pʌn/ Show Spelled [puhn] noun, verb, punned, pun·ning. Noun: the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words.

Using words with a double meaning (double entendre)

the ordinary form of spoken or written language, without metrical structure, as distinguished from poetry or verse.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prose

But those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads. But for mine own part, it was Greek to me.

~CascaJulius Caesar