Download Name - edl.io

Name: _______________________________________________ Period: _________________
Translating Shakespeare
A Shakespearean Gloss’ry
‘Tis
= ____________________________
‘Twas = ____________________________
A’
= ___________________________
Anon = ___________________________
Art
= ____________________________
Ay
= ____________________________
Dost = ____________________________
Doth = ____________________________
E’en = ____________________________
E’er = ____________________________
Ere
= ____________________________
Fain = ____________________________
Fie
= ____________________________
Gi’
= ____________________________
Hast = ____________________________
Hath = ____________________________
Hence = ___________________________
Hie = ____________________________
Hither = ____________________________
I’
= ____________________________
Marry = ____________________________
Nay = ____________________________
Ne’er = ____________________________
O’er = ____________________________
Ope = ____________________________
Prithee = ____________________________
Shalt = ____________________________
Thee = ____________________________
Thou = ____________________________
Thither = ____________________________
Thy = ____________________________
Thine = ____________________________
Whence
= ____________________________
Wherefore = ____________________________
Whither
= ____________________________
Wilt
= ____________________________
* Apostrophes (‘) are used as contractions, just like today! If there is an apostrophe where you don’t think there
should be, it means that it is replacing a letter (usually a vowel). Shakespeare does this to make the word one
syllable shorter, which helps him fit it into his meter.
** Many verbs end in –est. This is an ending that used to be in use in English, but isn’t anymore.
A Shakespearean Grammar Lesson
I ate the sandwich.

Subject, verb, object
I the sandwich ate.

_______________, _______________, _______________
Ate the sandwich I.

_______________, _______________, _______________
Ate I the sandwich.

_______________, _______________, _______________
The sandwich I ate.

_______________, _______________, _______________
The sandwich ate I.

_______________, _______________, _______________
This is the form that Shakespeare uses most commonly! Basically, the reverse of what we use.
LET’S TRANSLATE!
Sonnet 60
Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore, _______________________________________________
5
10
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
_______________________________________________
Each changing place with that which goes before,
_______________________________________________
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.
_______________________________________________
Nativity, once in the main of light,
_______________________________________________
Crawls to maturity, wherewith being crown’d,
_______________________________________________
Crooked elipses ’gainst his glory fight,
_______________________________________________
And Time that gave doth now his gift confound.
_______________________________________________
Time doth transfix the flourish set on youth
_______________________________________________
And delves the parallels in beauty’s brow,
_______________________________________________
Feeds on the rarities of nature’s truth,
_______________________________________________
And nothing stands but for his scythe to mow:
_______________________________________________
And yet to times in hope my verse shall stand,
_______________________________________________
Praising thy worth, despite his cruel hand.
_______________________________________________
Now you try…
5
10
Sonnet 130
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
_______________________________________________
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
_______________________________________________
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun1;
_______________________________________________
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
_______________________________________________
I have seen roses damask’d2, red and white,
_______________________________________________
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
_______________________________________________
And in some perfumes is there more delight
_______________________________________________
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
_______________________________________________
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
_______________________________________________
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
_______________________________________________
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
_______________________________________________
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground: _______________________________________________
1
2
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
_______________________________________________
As any she belied with false compare.
_______________________________________________
Dun = Grayish-yellow
Damasked = separated
Name: ______________________________________________________
Period: _________________
Homework: Translating Shakespeare
Sonnet # 18
5
10
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st;
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee
My Translation
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
5
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________