Think On My Words: Exploring Shakespeare's Language

Synopsis

You speak a language that I understand not. Hermiones words to Leontes in The Winters Tale are likely to ring true with many people reading or watching Shakespeares plays today. For decades, people have been studying Shakespeares life and times, and in recent years there has been a renewed surge of interest into aspects of his language. So how can we better understand Shakespeare? How did he manipulate language to produce such an unrivalled body of work, which has enthralled generations both as theatre and as literature? David Crystal addresses these and many other questions in this lively and original introduction to Shakespeares language. Covering in turn the five main dimensions of language structure - writing system, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and conversational style - the book shows how examining these linguistic nuts and bolts can help us achieve a greater appreciation of Shakespeares linguistic creativity.