Humanist Education:

ENGLISH GRAMMAR SCHOOL

 
("A little Latin and less Greek")

Schoolmasters at King's New School of Stratford upon Avon (where

Shakespeare was educated) made 20 Pounds a year and received a
dwelling - slightly more than their counterparts at Eton. Most had a B.A.
or M.A. from Oxford.

A child entering at the age of five probably passed his first two or three
years at a "petty school" attached to the Grammar School where he
mastered the alphabet and learned the rudiments of reading and writing.
Grammar school met daily except Sundays from 7:00 to 11:00 and from
1:00 to 5:00.

Lower grammar school (first three years): memorization of

Lilie's Grammar. This grammar along with the Bible and the Book of
Common Prayer were books every educated Englishman knew. By the end
of the third year, student had mastered syntaxis, figura, prosodia -- i.e.,
could parse (=diagram) Latin sentences, recognized grammatical parts,
knew how to vary sentences artfully by changing the diction or the order
of words, and was able to scan Latin verse in various meters.

Curriculum: New Testament, Proverbs, Eclogues (1503) of Baptista

Spagnuoli (Mantuan), Six Books of Sacred Dialogues for the Improvement
of the Language and Morals of Children, Colloquies of Vives and
Erasmus. All read in LATIN, not English.

Upper Grammar School. 4th form: Rhetoric. Student learned to identify

the numerous rhetorical figures (figures of words; sentences; figures of
thought) and to distinguish figures from tropes. If Greek was offered, it
was started in the fourth form. Composition of elegant letters began.

Curriculum: Comedies of Terence; serious inquiry into

Ovid's Metamorphoses. Method: Each scholar had to memorize half a
dozen verses, then construe the passage verbatim, parse it grammatically,
list all the tropes and figures, give the derivations of words, show
knowledge of Latin vocabulary by finding synonyms, and scan each verse
for meter. Next, student translated the Latin passage into elegant English
prose, closed the Latin book, and translated the English translation back
into Latin. (This is the famous "double translation" advocated by Roger
Ascham.) Finally, student translated Latin passage again, this time into
English verse.

5th form: Comparative Latin and Greek grammar. Oratory, esp.

Demosthenes, Isocrates, and Cicero. The schoolmasters felt that after
working with the students on the Eclogues and Georgics of Virgil, the
students could be left to themselves for the Aeneid.

Curriculum: commonly taught from an anthology containing brief and

pointedly moral histories out of Plutarch, Livy, and Pliny, fables, adages,
 emblems, proverbs, etc. This book was subdivided into sections:

1) collection of witty sayings 

2) record of rhetorical ornaments

 
3) list of descriptions of things "natural and artifical."

Students also used "Flowers of rhetoric," collections of particularly apt

poetry or lines on certain topics, as well as dictionaries, partly
encyclopedic (containing a summary of allegory, myth, and facts about a
given topic).

6th form: Homer ("father of poetry"), Pindar, Euripides, Sophocles, and

Aristophanes in Greek. Students perfected their Latin with Horace, Lucan,
Martial, Persius, and Seneca. For fun, they read Plautus. Imitation of
Pliny's Panegyrics and speeches of Cicero and Quintilian. Finally, they
practiced their poetic appreciation by composing epitaphs and eclogues in
English, Latin, and Greek.

(Based on Rev. Charles Hoole, New Discovery of the Old Art of Teaching

Schools [1660], which discusses the pedagogic methods "commonly
practiced in England and foreign countries."  Summary adapted from Jean
Brink's.) 
 

Problems with Shakespeare's Texts

Shakespeare did not himself publish any of his plays. In 1623, seven years after
Shakespeare's death, John Heminges and Henry Condell (Shakespeare's friends
and members of his theater company) posthumously published thirty-six of his
plays in the so-called "First Folio" (abbreviated as F1; a "folio" -- Latin for "leaf"
-- is produced when a sheet of paper is folded in half, yielding two leaves or four
pages).  Pericles, which is not in the First or Second Folio (1632; abbreviated
as F2) but is thought to be Shakespeare's work, was added to the Third
Folio (1664; abbreviated as F3 but not significant for the establishment of most
Shakespearean texts).  Two additional works, The Two Noble Kinsmen and Sir
Thomas More, are thought to be partially by Shakespeare.  Eighteen of the plays
in F1 appeared there for the first time in any printed form. The other eighteen had
previously appeared in separate quarto editions of a single play (so called because
the paper upon which they were printed was folded into quarters, each sheet
yielding four leaves or eight pages; quartos are thus usually smaller than folios). 
The quarto version (abbreviated as Q; numbered if more than one quarto printing
has been preserved) is considered authoritative for all but 7 of the 18 plays
preserved in quartos. Some plays in F1 (e.g. Henry V) are thought to have been
printed from Shakespeare's hand-written working manuscript of the full
play (referred to by scholars as "foul papers," although clearly written); for Henry
V, F1 is considered more authoritative than the unreliable quarto version (1600,
reprinted in 1602 and 1619). 

Plays were sold by the playwright to the company (i.e., by Shakespeare to the

Chamberlain's Men, later called the King's Men), but printed versions became the
property of the printers (who bought the manuscript from the theater troupe, the
playwright, or an individual who had obtained or reproduced a copy of the text,
with or without the authorization of the playwright).  Because there was no such
thing as copyright in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, playwrights and
theatrical troupes tried to keep their plays out of print.  Without copyright
protection, there was no compensation to a troupe and/or playwright if a rival
troupe obtained a copy of and produced a play, thereby cutting into the original
troupe's audience (and profits).  For this reason (and because copying handwritten
scripts was a long and tedious task), individual actors generally received only a
copy of their individual lines and cues.  Some of the quarto versions of
Shakespeare's plays seem to have been pirated from a single actor's partial script,
with other passages reconstructed from memory or invented.  A theater troupe
would retain one or more copies of the full text to use as a prompt book; this
master copy would be presumably be identical to or close to the "foul papers,"
Shakespeare's working manuscript of the full play. 

While some of the better quarto versions of the plays were presumably printed with
the authorization of Shakespeare's company (possibly because a shortage of cash
caused them to sell a script to a publisher), none of Shakespeare's plays were
published under his direct supervision. Thus, modern notions of
"authenticity" do not apply to either the Shakespearean text or to Elizabethan
theatrical practice:  the text of a play could vary from performance to
performance, as passages were added, altered or deleted to incorporate references
to current events; to please (or so as not to offend) a particular audience; to
accommodate a change in the acting personnel, etc.  To a certain extent, the same
variability applies today.  A modern production of a Shakespearean play is the
result of decisions made by the director and the actors, who may cut or alter
lines, speeches or whole scenes to correspond to the director's understanding of the
play, to shorten a text, to provide greater clarity, or for some other reason. 
 
  

  

Printing Practices: Some Useful Terms

"Compositor" refers to the person who set the type.  Spelling is used to identify
the compositor, as is broken type.  Punctuation was frequently added by
compositors.  If there are earlier printed editions, it is possible to judge a
compositor's accuracy and so to assess the reliability of his text. 

"Casting off copy" means to estimate how much of a manuscript text may be

fitted onto a page of the chosen printed format (quarto or folio) and then to divide
up the copy into clearly marked sections.  Casting off was used extensively
throughout F1, presumably to save time by allowing simultaneous composition
(typesetting) by two or more printers.  If the estimates were incorrect and the
compositor ran out of space, he might omit lines or words or print verse as prose. 

"Cancels" are textual changes in a book already printed.  Sometimes both the

initial and revised leaf are included in a book.  This is useful information for
scholars because the changes may have been dictated by political or religious
censorship or by authorial revision. 

Establishing a Text I: Editorial Decisions

The Shakespearean texts that we read in this class do not correspond exactly
to any sixteenth- or seventeenth-century printed versions of the plays, nor are they
"authentic" in the modern sense (i.e. a final product viewed as definitive and
unchangeable by its author). The modern Shakespearean text is the product of a
series of editorial decisions:  which printed form (if more than one exists) should
one choose as the base text?  What changes should be made to that copy?
(inclusion of passages found in other printed versions; correction of obvious or less
obvious misprints; etc.)  What about act and scene divisions, indications
of setting, and stage directions (sparse or lacking in most printed versions)?  How
about line numbering?  Modernization of punctuation and spelling?  Just as each
production of a Shakespearean play is the result of decisions made by the director
and the actors, the editor's text is based upon a series of decisions informed by his
or her knowledge of Shakespeare.  

Shakespearean Verse and Prose

The language used by Shakespeare in his plays is in one of three

forms: prose, rhymed verse or blank verse, each of which he uses to achieve
specific effects (more on the functions of prose, rhyme and blank verse below).  To
recognize these types of language and understand how Shakespeare uses them in
his plays, you need to be familiar with a number of technical terms. 

Meter:  a recognizable rhythm in a line of verse consisting of a pattern of regularly

recurring stressed and unstressed syllables. 

Foot/feet: a metric "foot" refers to the combination of a strong stress and the
associated weak stress (or stresses) that make up the recurrent metric unit of a line
of verse.
Iamb: a particular type of metric "foot" consisting of two syllables, an unstressed
syllable followed by a stressed syllable ("da DUM"); the opposite of a "troche." 
An unstressed syllable is conventionally represented by a curved line resembling a

smile (a U is as close as I can get here).  A stressed syllable is conventionally

represented by a / .  Thus, an iamb is conventionally represented U / .  

Iambic pentameter: A ten-syllable line consisting of five iambs is said to be
in iambic pentameter ("penta" = five).  Its stress pattern (five pairs of
unstressed/stressed syllables) is conventionally

represented U /U / U /U / U / Example: "The course of true love never did run

true" (MND I.i.134).  As you read this line aloud, listen for the stress pattern: da
DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM (i.e. the COURSE of TRUE love
NEver DID run TRUE).

Troche: the opposite of an iamb; a particular type of metric "foot" consisting of

two syllables, a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable ("DA dum"). 
An unstressed syllable is conventionally represented by a curved line resembling a

smile (a U is as close as I can get here).  A stressed syllable is conventionally

represented by a / .  Thus, a troche is conventionally represented / U .  

Trochaic rhythm: made up of troches. The opposite of iambic, a trochaic rhythm
has a pattern of stressed/unstressed accent conventionally

represented/U /U / U / U . . .  Example:  "Double, double, toil and trouble;/ Fire

burn and caldron bubble" (MAC IV.i.10-11). As you read these lines aloud, listen
for the stress pattern: DA dum DA dum DA dum DA dum (i.e. DOUble DOUble
TOIL and TROUble). 

Recognizing Prose, Rhyme and Blank Verse

1. Prose refers to ordinary speech with no regular pattern of accentual
rhythm. Lines of text do not all have the same number of syllables nor is
there any discernible pattern of stresses. If you are unsure if a passage is in
prose or in blank verse, look for the following visual clue: a long passage in
prose is typically printed in your text like an ordinary paragraph with right
and left justification.  The lines of print extend from left to right margin with
no "hard return" in the middle of a sentence. Standard rules of
capitalization are followed: only proper nouns (names and place names),
the pronoun "I" and the first letter of a new sentence are capitalized.
2. Rhymed verse in Shakespeare's plays is usually in rhymed couplets, i.e.
two successive lines of verse of which the final words rhyme with another. 
The rhyme pattern of verse in rhyming couplets is conventionally
represented aa bb cc etc., with the letters a, b, and c referring to the rhyming
sound of the final  word in a line.  (A single rhymed couplet may also appear
at the end of a speech or scene in blank verse, in which case it is called
a capping couplet.)  When the two lines of a rhyming couplet are in iambic
pentameter, they are called heroic couplets. Example: Helena's lament in A
Midsummer Night's Dream (I.i.234-9):

 
Love looks not with the eyes, but ("a"
with the mind; rhyme)
And therefore is winged Cupid ("a"
painted blind. rhyme)
Nor hath Love's mind of any ("b"
judgment taste; rhyme)
Wings, and no eyes, figure ("b"
unheedy haste: rhyme)
 And therefore is Love said to be ("c"
a child, rhyme)
Because in choice he is so ("c"
oft beguiled. rhyme)
 
Because rhyme is easy to hear, typically no visual clue is needed for you to
recognize that a passage is in rhyme; however, note in the rhymed
passages above and below that 1) the line of print does not extend to fill
the whole page(there is a "hard return" after every rhyme word, so that the
text appears as a column that does not fill the whole page); and 2) the first
word of every line is capitalized without regard to standard rules of
capitalization. These two printing conventions are a visual clue that a
speech is in verse rather than in prose.

Exception:  While most rhyming verse in Shakespeare's plays is in

couplets, songs typically have a more complex rhyme pattern, as in the
following passage from Ariel's song (The Tempest 1.2.397-402) with the
rhyme pattern ababcc: 

Full fathom five thy ("a"

father lies; rhyme)
Of his bones are ("b"
coral made; rhyme)
Those are pearls that ("a"
were his eyes; rhyme)
Nothing of him that ("b"
doth fade rhyme)
But doth suffer a ("c"
sea change rhyme)
Into something rich ("c"
 and strange. rhyme)
 

3. Blank Verse refers to unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse

resembles prose in that the final words of the lines do not rhyme in any
regular pattern (although an occasional rhyming couplet may be found). 
Unlike prose, there is a recognizable meter:  most lines are in iambic
pentameter, i.e. they consist of ten syllables alternating unstressed and
stressed syllables (there may be some irregularities, such an
occasional troche mixed in with the iambs or an extra unstressed syllable at
the end of a line).

If you are unsure if a passage is in blank verse or in prose, READ IT

ALOUD.  If you can discern the regular rhythmic pattern of iambic
pentameter (da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM), it is in blank
verse.  
 

If you are STILL uncertain whether the passage is in blank verse or prose,
look for the following visual clue: as in rhymed verse, in blank verse 1) the
line of print does not extend to fill the whole page (there is a "hard return"
at the end of every line, so the text appears as a column that does not fill the
whole page); and 2) the first word of every line is capitalized without regard
to standard rules of capitalization. Example: Theseus's speech to Hippolyta
(MND I.i.15-19):

 
Hippolyta, I wooed thee with my (end of line is not end of
 
sword, sentence)
 And won thy love, doing thee (capital A falls in middle of
injuries. sentence)
But I will wed thee in another (end of line is not end of
key, sentence)
With pomp, with triumph, and (capital W falls in middle of
with reveling. sentence)
 
If this passage were in prose, the standard rules of capitalization would
apply, so the words "And" and "With" would not be capitalized, because
they fall in the middle of a sentence.  REMEMBER: like rhymed verse,
blank verse can be recognized by these two printing conventions which are
a visual clue that a speech is in verse rather than in prose. 
 
The Functions of Prose, Rhyme and Blank Verse in Shakespeare's Plays

PROSE is used whenever verse would seem bizarre:  in serious letters (Macbeth to
Lady Macbeth; Hamlet to Horatio), in proclamations, and in the speeches of
characters actually or pretending to be mad (Lady Macbeth; Hamlet and Ophelia;
Edgar and King Lear) - verse is apparently too regular and orderly for expressing
madness.  Prose is used for cynical commentary (e.g. Jacques and Touchstone
in As You Like It; Edmund in King Lear) or reducing flowery speech to common
sense terms (all over As You Like It).  It is used when the rational is contrasted with
the emotional (Brutus vs. Antony in Julius Caesar).  It is used for simple
exposition, transitions, or contrast (the first scenes of As You Like It, The
Tempest, King Lear or A Winter's Tale).  It is used for scenes of everyday life
(Bottom and company in A Midsummer Night's Dream; Corin in As You Like It;
William, Bates and Court in Henry V); for low comedy (Bottom and company;
Touchstone and Audrey in As You Like It; Fluellen and Pistol in Henry V; Sir Toby
Belch, Maria and Malvolio in Twelfth Night); and for bantering, relaxed or
unbuttoned conversation (Celia, Rosalind and Touchstone in As You Like It;
Gower, Fluellen, MacMorris and Jamie in Henry V; Prince Hal and Falstaff in 2
Henry IV).

PLEASE NOTE: it is NOT ACCURATE to say that "the lower classes speak
prose and the upper classes speak verse."  The highborn cousins Rosalind and
Celia speak prose to one another in As You Like It, as do King Henry and Katherine
of France in Henry V.  Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, tends to use prose both when
he is being very rational and when he is very irrational (but the passionate Hamlet
speaks in verse). Similarly, when the lower classes figure in serious or romantic
situations, they may speak verse (e.g. Silvius and Phebe in As You Like It; the
gardeners in Richard II).

RHYME is often used for ritualistic or choral effects and for highly lyrical or
sententious passages that give advice or point to a moral (the Duke's speeech at the
end of Act 3 in Measure for Measure). Rhyme is used for songs (Amiens in As
You Like It; Feste in Twelfth Night; Ariel in The Tempest); in examples of bad
verse (the Pyramus and Thisbe play in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Orlando's
bad poetry in As You Like It); in Prologues, Epilogues and Choruses (the Chorus
in Henry V; Puck's epilogue); in masques (Hymen in As You Like It; Iris, Ceres and
Juno in The Tempest) and in plays-within-plays (Pyramus and Thisbe in A
Midsummer Night's Dream; the Mousetrap play in Hamlet), where it distinguishes
these imaginary performances from the "real world" of the play.  It is also used for
many manifestations of the supernatural (e.g. the witches in Macbeth; the fairies
in A Midsummer Night's Dream; Ariel in The Tempest) -- but not for ghosts (e.g.
Hamlet's father), who retain the human use of blank verse.
BLANK VERSE is employed in a wide range of situations because it comes close
to the natural speaking rhythms of English but raises it above the ordinary without
sounding artificial (unlike the "singsong" effect produced by dialogue in rhyme). 
Art elevates and distills the everyday; writing in blank verse helps sharpen that
distinction. Blank verse, as opposed to prose, is used mainly for passionate, lofty or
momentous occasions and for introspection; it may suggest a refinement of
character. Many of Shakespeare's most famous speeches are written in blank
verse: Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's plotting; the great soliloquies of Henry
V and Hamlet; Caliban's complaints and Prospero's farewell to magic in The
Tempest. As noted above, a speech or scene in blank verse may end with a single
rhyming couplet known as a capping couplet.  It is used to lend a final punch, a
concluding flourish or a note of climax to the end of a speech or scene.  

Dramatic Plot Structure

As you read through Shakespeare's plays, be aware of the major movements of the
plot.  Analyzing the plot structure can help you to understand the action as
purposeful, connected, and oriented to a logical end rather than seeing it as a
haphazard accumulation of seemingly random episodes.  

Exposition:  introduces characters and setting; provides basic information about

relationships between characters and an initial conflict between them. (A Midsummer
Night's Dream: Hermia doesn't want to marry Demetrius, the man her father has
picked.  King Lear: Cordelia won't flatter her father like her sisters do, so he banishes
her.  The Tempest: Prospero, the rightful duke of Milan, was shipwrecked on an island
after his brother Antonio upsurped his dukedom and allied himself with Milan's
enemy, Naples.)
Rising Action: suspense builds; s"the plot thickens."  Characters make decisions in
response to the opening conflict; these decisions complicate the action.  Opens up the
plot, allowing for different possibilities of resolution. (A Midsummer Night's Dream:
Hermia and Lysander elope; others follow them to the woods. King Lear: Goneril and
Regan reject Lear, who begins to realize his error in judgment.  The Tempest: Antonio
is shipwrecked on Prospero's island along with Alonso, King of Naples, whose
brother Sebastian plots to kill him and usurp his throne.)

Turning Point: characters or circumstances change (for the worse or the better) due
to an action upon which the main plot hinges.  The central or focal point of the play,
hence the main purpose of the action. (A Midsummer Night's Dream: after ridiculous
confusion, the lovers are matched appropriately.  King Lear: discovery of his terrible
errors and personal vanity causes Lear's madness but paradoxically brings profound
insight.  The Tempest: Prospero's daughter Miranda and Alonso's son Ferdinand fall in
love; Prospero's magical intervention leads Alonso to repentance.)

Falling Action: the unravelling of complications leads to the resolution of conflict.

(A Midsummer Night's Dream: the lovers' choices receive official sanction; Egeus's
desire to punish Hermia's disobedience is overruled. King Lear: Lear's madness and
repentance lead to reconciliation with Cordelia; the evil characters start being resisted
by the good ones.  The Tempest: Antonio's and Sebastian's plot is exposed.)

Conclusion:  in comedies (and romances), celebration of a new order, new identities

and a harmonious end to conflict, frequently expressed through marriage(s). 
In tragedies (and romances), the restoration of moral and social order.  Evil people
are dead or no longer in power.  In tragedy, this restoration of order comes at great
cost; in romance, seemingly due to divine providence, manifest through improbable
supernatural occurences. (A Midsummer Night's Dream: three marriages and a
wedding feast.  King Lear:  many deaths, but the political conflict is over.  The
Tempest: Prospero's dukedom is restored; the evil-doers are forgiven; the betrothal of
Miranda and Ferdinand seals the peace between Milan and Naples.)

Note: while the parenthetical examples above are based upon the main plot line
(primary action) of the play, the same concepts apply to the subplots, which
frequently involve foils to the main characters (e.g. Titania and Oberon's dispute in A
Midsummer Night's Dream; Gloucester's misjudgment of Edgar and Edmund in King
Lear; Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano's plot to usurp Prospero's power in The
Tempest).