This is something that trips a lot of people up, but my quick, minute-long video shows you how to tell the difference INSTANTLY. Check it out!
Shakespeare Coach Emily Staudt breaks down the Bard in a fun, approachable way
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poem. Show all posts
Wednesday
Breaking Down the Bard VIDEO - Verse vs Prose
Do you know how to tell the difference between verse and prose?
This is something that trips a lot of people up, but my quick, minute-long video shows you how to tell the difference INSTANTLY. Check it out!
This is something that trips a lot of people up, but my quick, minute-long video shows you how to tell the difference INSTANTLY. Check it out!
Breaking Down the Bard - Dactyls
A dactyl is not a dinosaur - but "dinosaur" is a dactyl!
A
dactyl is a metric foot in poetry that is one stressed syllable
followed by two unstressed syllables. You could also think of this like a
musical triplet.
Some words that are dactylic all by themselves are:
Endlessly
Cabbages
Murmuring
President
Mockingbird
Hamilton
... and...
You guessed it: Dinosaur.
Take a look at these dactylic lines of verse, where I've shown the line first as it would appear in a script, followed by how I would scan it:
Julia (The Two Gentlemen of Verona)
Trampling contemptuously on thy disdain
TRAMP-ling con-TEMP-tous-ly ON thy dis DAIN
*Pronounce "contemptuously" con - TEMP - chuss - lee to keep it four syllables.
Titania (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
I am a spirit of no common rate
I am a SPI-rit of NO com-mon RATE
Claudius (Hamlet)
Madness in great ones must not unwatch'd go.
MAD-ness in GREAT ones must NOT un-watch'd GO.
There is usually more than one way to scan a line of verse. A lot of people would make Titania's line perfect iambic pentameter:
i AM a SPI-rit OF no COM-mon RATE
And
while that is completely acceptable, I really like the choice of
dactyls for this line. Midsummer is a play that is largely in perfect iambic pentameter, so looking for opportunities to utilize other rhythms
and shake it up is a good idea. This is especially powerful here, where
Titania might be showing her magical abilities to impress
Bottom, who is trying to escape the woods while she is willing him to stay.
Making
Julia's line dactylic can help to emphasize the physical action of her
stomping all over the torn pieces of the letter she has received. Also,
attempting to make this line perfect iambic pentameter sounds really
strange:
tramp-LING con-TEMP-tous-LY on THY dis-DAIN
Nope. It's weird. So is Claudius' line:
mad-NESS in GREAT ones MUST not UN-watch'd GO.
Dactyls
are pretty frequent in Shakespeare's verse, so when you see a line that
can't be perfect iambic pentameter, check to see if it could be
dactylic instead!
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Breaking Down the Bard - Sonnets
If you've ever wondered what a sonnet is, I'm gonna break it down for you right now!
Simply
put, a sonnet is a type of poem, following a set structure. There are
many kinds of sonnets (which this Wikipedia article details). It doesn't
necessarily have to be about love, but a lot of them are, because love
is a wonderfully rich and complicated topic! We're going to look at the
type of sonnet Shakespeare is famous for, called the English Sonnet, the
Elizabethan* Sonnet, or the Shakespearean Sonnet.
*Elizabeth
I was Queen of England during much of Shakespeare's life, and he wrote
many plays and poems during the Elizabethan era.
The
basic structure for this type of sonnet is three quatrains and a couplet - click the links if you missed those or need a reminder. This
type of sonnet is typically in iambic pentameter and has a total of
fourteen lines. One way to think of the rhyme scheme is this:
- - - - - - - - A
- - - - - - - - B
- - - - - - - - A
- - - - - - - - B
- - - - - - - - - C
- - - - - - - - - D
- - - - - - - - - C
- - - - - - - - - D
- - - - - - - - - - E
- - - - - - - - - - F
- - - - - - - - - - E
- - - - - - - - - - F
- - - - - - - - - - - G
- - - - - - - - - - - G
Let's look at Sonnet 91:
In
the first quatrain, we see that "skill" in the first line rhymes with
"ill" in the third line, and "force" in the second line rhymes with
"horse" in the fourth. This is contrasted by the couplet that ends the
sonnet, where two lines immediately rhyme with each other, "take" and
"make".
Another
noteworthy Sonnet by Shakespeare is in Romeo and Juliet. The very first
time the young lovers speak to each other, they share lines that form a
sonnet! Check it out:
Here, I've marked the structure so that you can easily see the Sonnet form that's hidden in Act I, Scene 5:
I
think it's really cool that Shakespeare had his two star-crossed lovers
so on the same page that they could improvise a Sonnet together at
their very first meeting!
Shakespeare
is not the only person to try his hand at the Elizabethan Sonnet - in
fact, many others did, too - but he wrote at least 154 of them, and now
you know what makes them tick!
What's your favorite sonnet? Let me know in the comments!
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
Email me at ShakespeareCoach@gmail.com
Breaking Down the Bard - Quatrains
Last week on Breaking Down the Bard, I explained couplets, or two lines of verse in a row which have an ending rhyme. This week, we'll be looking at another popular rhyme structure in Shakespeare's works: quatrains.
Luciana (The Comedy of Errors)
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth's sake, use her with more kindness:
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth,
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness
See how "wealth" rhymes with "stealth" in the first and third lines, and "kindness" with "blindness" in the second and fourth lines? These four lines of alternating ending rhymes make a quatrain.
Here's another way to visualize it:
___________ A
______________B
____________A
______________B
Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Fair love, you faint with wand'ring in the wood:
And to speak troth I have forgot our way.
We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
Getting the hang of this? "Wood" rhymes with "good," and "way" rhymes with "day."
Quatrains can even be shared among characters:
Romeo (Romeo and Juliet)
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo
O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,
They pray - grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Romeo and Juliet are so in tune with each other that they can rhyme while they flirt!
Now you can identify what a quatrain is, and you're going to impress everyone when you're doing tablework for your next show!
Luciana (The Comedy of Errors)
If you did wed my sister for her wealth,
Then for her wealth's sake, use her with more kindness:
Or if you like elsewhere, do it by stealth,
Muffle your false love with some show of blindness
See how "wealth" rhymes with "stealth" in the first and third lines, and "kindness" with "blindness" in the second and fourth lines? These four lines of alternating ending rhymes make a quatrain.
Here's another way to visualize it:
___________ A
______________B
____________A
______________B
Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Fair love, you faint with wand'ring in the wood:
And to speak troth I have forgot our way.
We'll rest us, Hermia, if you think it good,
And tarry for the comfort of the day.
Getting the hang of this? "Wood" rhymes with "good," and "way" rhymes with "day."
Quatrains can even be shared among characters:
Romeo (Romeo and Juliet)
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
Romeo
O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,
They pray - grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Romeo and Juliet are so in tune with each other that they can rhyme while they flirt!
Now you can identify what a quatrain is, and you're going to impress everyone when you're doing tablework for your next show!
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your first session!
Breaking Down the Bard - Couplets
There
are two main styles of poetic rhyming that we find in Shakespeare's
verse: couplets and quatrains. Being able to easily and quickly identify
them will make you look like an absolute rock star in any cold-reading
audition, and give you opportunities for some really fun choices.
Today,
we're going to look at couplets, sometimes called "rhyming couplets"
(which is redundant, but whatever), or "heroic couplets". A couplet is
where the endings of two lines of verse in a row rhyme with each other.
For example:
Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Wherefore was I to this keen mockery born?
When at your hand did I deserve such scorn?
Claudius (Hamlet)
My words fly up, my thoughts remain below.
Words without thoughts never to heaven go.
Luciana (The Comedy of Errors)
Gaze when you should, and that will clear your sight.
Antipholus of Syracuse
As good to wink, sweet love, as look on night.
See that? "Born" rhymes with "scorn", "below" with "go", and "sight" with "night".
Characters
can speak in pairs of couplets at length in a monologue - the above
couplet of Helena's is from a longer speech of couplets.
Couplets
are sometimes used to indicate the end of a scene, or before a shift in
the action, like the couplet from Hamlet's Claudius. The scene is
mostly rhyme-free, but given a nice "button" with couplets right at the end.
Other
times, couplets are shared throughout the scene and among characters.
This can be a lot of fun to play with, as it could mean that the
characters are on the same level, and in agreement, or sparring, kind of
like a rap battle, or that they're in love. Looking at a few additional
lines from the same scene of The Comedy of Errors demonstrates this
type of back-and-forth.
Luciana
What, are you mad that you do reason so?
Antipholus of Syracuse
Not mad, but mated - how, I do not know.
Luciana
It is a fault that springeth from your eye.
Antipholus of Syracuse
For gazing on your beams, fair sun, being by.
Luciana
Gaze when you should, and that will clear your sight.
Antipholus of Syracuse
As good to wink, sweet love, as look on night.
Luciana
Why call you me love? Call my sister so.
Antipholus of Syracuse
Thy sister's sister.
Luciana
That's my sister.
Antipholus of Syracuse
No;
The
scene continues, with Antipholus trying to woo Luciana, but did you see
that exquisite shared line of verse just now? Thy sister's sister. / That's my sister. / No; is all one line of verse, rhyming with the
previous line: Why call you me love? Call my sister so. I think this
could be really hot in performance, as the pace seems to quicken!
Next week on Breaking Down the Bard: Quatrains!
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
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Monday
Shakespeare Quotes
If
you've been on Instagram, Pinterest, or the Internet in general, you've
probably seen those lovely images with a quote on them being shared for
inspiration or for laughs. I see these all the time (heck, I MAKE at
least one every day), and I am FLOORED by how frequently people will
share a quote attributed to Shakespeare that is, in fact, not his work
at all! The following three examples are some of the top offenders that I see on Instagram on a daily basis.
Example #1
This
is one that I almost can't believe people could mistake for
Shakespeare. The list of "advice" doesn't have a logical progression,
and if any character in Shakespeare's plays would have said something
like this, it would probably be for comic effect. It's something that
sounds like solid advice on the surface, but is cliche and/or
nonsensical when you start to consider the meaning. If you truly
didn't expect anything from anyone, you wouldn't expect to get paid by
your boss, or for your waiter to bring you the item you ordered. It's
nonsense, and Shakespeare didn't write it! He DID, however, write a
speech of only-marginally-helpful advice in Hamlet, when Polonius is
talking to Laertes:
This
speech is also quoted often, but Shakespeare actually wrote it! The
language is so much richer than the "You know why?" that we see in the
imposter. And we can imagine how a young man like Laertes might be
rolling his eyes while his father drones on and on about not taking out
loans, wearing the right clothes, not starting fights but finishing them, and nurturing true friendships. SO much better than "before you
hurt, feel"!
Example #2
While
it seems fairly obvious that umbrellas have been around for thousands
of years (and well before Shakespeare's time), the word "umbrella"
doesn't appear in any of his writing. The phrase "you find a shadow
spot" seems odd to me; why not a "shady spot" or even a "shadowed spot"?
The phrase is awkward. Instead, how about quoting Sonnet 93?
This sonnet captures the idea that this person will always look sweet and loving, but it's impossible to tell whether their love is true or not! Their appearance doesn't show what they're thinking or feeling, and it worries the writer that they won't ever be entirely sure what's going on. It would suck to be in love with someone who leads you on all the time, and Shakespeare nails it in Sonnet 93.
Example #3
I'll admit that this is a sweet sentiment. I'm a sucker for "love at first sight" stories, too. But Shakespeare simply did not write this. He did, however, write this:
Rosalind says that in As You Like It. There's also this:
Ferdinand says that in The Tempest. Why bother making up fake Shakespeare quotes (or sharing them) when there are so many fantastic real Shakespeare quotes to choose from? I post a Shakespeare quote image every day on my Facebook page - follow
me to be sure to start your day with the best of the Bard!
Bonus:
Did you think that was Shakespeare? It is, and it isn't. Marlowe wrote this line in Hero and Leander, and Shakespeare was actually quoting Marlowe when Phebe says the line in As You Like It! Hero and Leander came out a year before As You Like It.
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your first lesson!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!
Wednesday
Breaking Down the Bard - Trochees
Now
that you know what verse is, and what perfect iambic pentameter is (and
if you don't, feel free to read my previous Breaking Down the Bard
posts to catch up), we've been tackling what happens when the verse has
variations that break the pattern of perfect iambic pentameter.
Say this line of verse, and try to make it perfectly iambic:
Beauty is bought with judgement of the eye
beau-TY is BOUGHT with JUDGE-meant OF the EYE
Sounds
flippin' weird, right? It sounds strange because nobody says "beauty"
like "beau-TY"... and if they did, you would probably laugh at them.
The
word "beauty" is spoken with the emphasis on the first syllable:
"BEAU-ty". It breaks the mould of the style of verse that is prevalent
in this play (Love's Labour's Lost), and grabs our attention; which is
great for the actor playing the Princess, because she is sort of
schooling Boyet with this line. It sounds better when it's spoken like
this:
BEAU-ty is BOUGHT with JUDGE-ment OF the EYE
Wow. Like a normal human is talking.
As
you probably guessed from the title of this post, this type of metric
foot is called a trochee. A trochee is the opposite of an iamb; a
trochee is a stressed syllable, followed by an unstressed syllable, and
an iamb is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
Side
note: it's pronounced "TROH-key". And yes, the word trochee IS A
TROCHEE. Boom. But when you say "iamb", that's a trochee, too, so don't get
too excited... you didn't just crack the verse code.
Just
like iambs, trochees can be a word all on their own, or they can
overlap two words, or be part of a larger word with more syllables. Some
words that are trochaic all by themselves are: rainbow, bowling,
baseball, country, delta, never, and zero.
Often,
trochees will appear at the beginning of a line of Shakespeare's verse,
where there has been primarily iambic pentameter. It gets the
listener's attention:
Cousin, thou wast not wont to be so dull.
Shall I be plain? I wish the bastards dead,
And I would have it suddenly perform'd.
COU-sin, thou WAST not WONT to BE so DULL.
shall I be PLAIN? i WISH the BAS-tards DEAD,
and I would HAVE it SUD-den-LY per-FORM'D.
There might be a trochee on a line with a feminine ending, and/or at the beginning of a line after a feminine ending:
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven
Having some business, do entreat her eyes
To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
TWO of the FAIR-est STARS in ALL the HEAV-en*
HAV-ing some BUS-'ness, DO en-TREAT her EYES
to TWIN-kle IN their SPHERES till THEY re-TURN
*As per usual, I will remind you that there are many ways to scan a line of verse. For this particular example, I have chosen to trochee the first foot, and pronounce "heaven" with two syllables to demonstrate the feminine ending. You certainly could keep the line in perfect iambic pentameter (by eliding "heaven" to "heav'n"), or any number of other options!
It doesn't have to be at the beginning of a line of verse:
O, what authority and show of truth
Can cunning sin cover itself withal!
o, WHAT au-THOR-i-TY and SHOW of TRUTH
can CUN-ning SIN COV-er it-SELF with-AL!
And when something magical is happening, Shakespeare might decide to use a trochaic style of verse INSTEAD OF iambic pentameter:
Double, double, toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
DOU-ble, DOU-ble, TOIL and TROU-ble;
FI-re BURN and CAUL-dron BUB-ble.
Or
Shall we their fond pageant see?
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
SHALL we THEIR fond PAG-eant SEE?
LORD, what FOOLS these MOR-tals BE!
Trochees
are awesome, because they shake things up and keep the audience
listening! It sends a new energy and says, "listen up!" at just the
right moment, so be on the lookout for this exciting kind of verse!
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your first session!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!
Breaking Down the Bard - Feminine Endings
Now that you've got a handle on the difference between verse and prose, what perfect iambic pentameter is, and what scansion is (and if you don't, follow the links to get caught up!), we're gonna take a look at what happens when things aren't so "perfect" in a line of iambic pentameter anymore. We'll call these "variations" to the verse, and today we're going to start with "feminine endings".
Take a look at this section of Shakespeare's 20th Sonnet:
A woman's face with Nature's own hand painted
Hast thou, the master mistress of my passion;
A woman's gentle heart but not acquainted
With shifting change as is false women's fashion
This whole sonnet is unconventional, because every line of verse has an extra, unstressed syllable at the end! Since iambic pentameter is ten syllables per line, alternating between unstressed and stressed syllables, this sonnet breaks the "rules":
a WO-man's GEN-tle HEART but NOT ac-QUAINT-ed
A line of verse that has an additional unstressed or weak syllable outside of the traditional structure (in this case, iambic pentameter) has what we call a "feminine ending", or a "weak ending". Yes, this is opposed to a stressed or "masculine" ending. It has absolutely nothing to do with the subject being a male or female, it is entirely about whether the last syllable in the line is stressed or unstressed. Misogyny, I know... I didn't come up with the name.
Why is there an extra syllable at the end of the line?
Well, first of all, the words at the ends of the lines in the above poem rhyme in an "A B A B" pattern, and the rhythm helps to emphasize that. Shakespeare has rhymes all over the place, and they aren't all quite so obvious as "painted" and "acquainted", or "passion" and "fashion." Rhymes are not a requirement for a feminine ending, but be on the lookout for them!
Second, these are the words that Shakespeare wanted for these lines. I don't say this as a cop-out; Shakespeare was certainly smart enough to choose other words that would rhyme AND maintain the meaning AND fit into perfect iambic pentameter... or he could have invented ones that he wanted. He chose not to.
Third, it breaks up the rhythm and gets our attention. If the verse stays too perfect for too long, it can get boring, and we stop listening. This little hiccup at the end of the line helps keep our attention!
Let's check out a few more lines of verse to find other examples of this particular variation:
This speech from Henry V:
When we have matched our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
Might scan* like this:
when WE have MATCHED our RACK-ets TO these BALLS,
we WILL, in FRANCE, by GOD'S grace, PLAY a SET
shall STRIKE his FA-ther's CROWN in-TO the HA-zard.
This speech from Love's Labour's Lost:
Now, madam, summon up your dearest spirits,
Consider who the King your father sends,
To whom he sends, and what's his embassy.
Might scan* like this:
now MAD-am, SUM-mon UP your DEAR-est SPIR-its,
con-SID-er WHO the KING your FA-ther SENDS,
to WHOM he SENDS, and WHAT'S his EM-bas-SY.
And this speech from Macbeth:
And yet the eight appears, who bears a glass
Which shows me many more; and some I see
That twofold balls and treble sceptres carry.
Might scan* like this:
and YET the EIGHT ap-PEARS, who BEARS a GLASS
which SHOWS me MAN-y MORE; and SOME i SEE
that TWO-fold BALLS and TREB-le SCEP-tres CAR-ry.
*I say that it MIGHT SCAN like this because there is often more than one way to scan a line of verse. I have chosen to maintain the structure of perfect iambic pentameter when scanning these lines, in order to illustrate the feminine endings effectively.
TO SUM UP:
A feminine ending is when there is an unstressed syllable at the end of a line of poetry, especially one that is an extra syllable added to the pre-established meter. This "hiccup" in the rhythm helps keep the audience's attention, sometimes emphasizes a rhyme, and is 100% intentional!
Wanna step up your Shakespeare game?
Email shakespearecoach@gmail.com to schedule your first lesson!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!
Click here to get my FREE cheat sheet on the Top 5 Mistakes Actors Make in Shakespeare Auditions!
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