Shakespeare’s Influence on Language By: Monika Danoski Lexi McGuirk Bridget Welsh Kullen Hosier

Shakespeare’s Fame The most famous of all Englishmen is Shakespeare. One of the things he is famous for is the effect he had on the Early Modern English language. Our everyday speech is full of words and phrases invented by Shakespeare without us even realizing it.

Literature Background -Words were very flexible when Shakespeare was alive -Having a lot of freedom, writers can invent new uses for words For example: “Caesar is able to say: ‘The wild disguise has almost anticked us all.’ An antic is a fool, which is a noun. Shakespeare turns it into a verb ‘to make a fool of.” “In Love’s Labours Lost he is able to exploit multiple meanings of one word to create a sentence like ‘Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile.’ – ‘intellect,’ ‘wisdom,’ ‘eyesight’ and ‘daylight’. ”

Today’s literature is still shifting Everyone plays a role in the changing of literature Early Modern English and Modern English are identical. Today’s Literature

Teaching Shakespeare “There is one issue that seems to bother newcomers to Shakespeare, however. Teachers will often find students complaining: ‘All those thees and thous. It’s soooo old-fashioned and I can’t be bothered with it’.”

Thou and Ye Modern English ~ you- singular, plural Old English ~ thou- singular ~ ye- plural

Words invented by Shakespeare Most people never would of thought that Shakespeare invented these simple words of our time For example: Lonely, generous, gossip, negotiate, fashionable, countless, mimic, and much more Words that aren’t so simple include obsequiously, lackluster, metamorphize, savagery, and scuffle

Some Shakespeare Quotes: “Listen to many, speak to few” “Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast” “The love of heaven makes one heavenly” “Pleasure and action make the world seem short” “Say as you think and speak it from your souls” Shakespeare was very optimistic.

Shakespeare Insults Shakespeare created many insults in his time. Some examples of his insults would be, "Wipe Thy Ugly Face Thou Bootless codpiece-sniffin flax-wench“ This insult would be used to tell someone to get a certain look off their face. Another insult would be, "Get Thee Hence thou frothy onion-eyed measle” which would be said to tell someone to go away.

Work Cited "Shakespeare & Early Middle English: Development Of Modern English." Shakespeare Resources: Modern English Shakespeare Translations. Web. 10 Apr