Chaucer seems modern in comparison. The only problem for most modern readers is
a bit of vocabulary. Once you know what "swyving" is (a fairly polite word for
the act) and that "nether ye" is a euphemism for the ers, it all sorts itself
out. Makes one realize how much French changed the language. I thought I was
pretty good at it after reading Chaucer and then had to read Piers Plowman.
The northern dialects were very tough for me.
I think that Shakespeare is modern only in the sense that once acquainted with
his works, we cannot let them die, and that does us some good. He poured the
language into a kind of concrete and we do some maintenance as best we can.
Moreso the King James Bible. And it doesn't hurt that Henry Tutor and his
daughter counted themselves pure English and had made enemies of most of
contemporary Europe at the time.
Joel W.
On Jun 8, 2010, at 2:32 AM, Andrew Fildes <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Henry V certainly spoke late Norman French at court as an everyday
> language and Latin as a formal language. The speeches he made to the
> hoi polloi would have sounded nothing like Shakespeare's versions at
> all but would have been in late Southern Middle English. Shakespeare
> is modern in comparison.
> Here's Chaucer writing a few decades before Henry's reign in the guise
> of a Miller - a symple gnof -
>
> They seyde, "The man is wood, my leeve brother";
> And every wight gan laughen at this stryf
> Thus swyved was this carpenteris wyf,
> For al his kepyng and his jalousye;
> And Absolon hath kist hir nether ye;
> And Nicholas is scalded in the towte.
> This tale is doon, and God save al the rowte!
>
> We have a fair idea of pronunciation from the rhyme and rhythm. The
> style is deliberately crude - demotic English of the time.
> Or as Henry might have said at Harfleur -
> "Onis moore in ilke brache...."
>
> Andrew Fildes
> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> On 08/06/2010, at 9:48 AM, Joel Wilcox wrote:
>
>> I'm sure I've seen a great hairy fellow do something of that nature,
>> but I think it was Gaunt's great set-piece in Richard II ("this
>> sceptered isle, this earth of majesty ..."). This guy would have
>> sooner played Falstaff as Hal.
>>
>> I'm sure it "reads" more intelligibly to the modern native English
>> speaker than it sounds. Of course, we're guessing at the sound of
>> English from those periods.
>
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