Early Modern Verse, Rhetoric, and Text Analysis by Charlene V. Smith Artistic Director [email protected] 2016 Our Mission: Brave Spirits Theatre is dedicated to plays from the era of verse and violence which contrast the baseness of humanity with the elegance of poetry. By staging dark, visceral, intimate productions of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, we strive to tear down the perception of these plays as proper and intellectual and instead use them to explore the boundaries of acceptable human behavior. Table of contents I. Welcome ...........................................................................................................5 A. Our Mission .............................................................................................................................5 B. Our Values ................................................................................................................................5 1. Text ................................................................................................................................5 2. Actor ..............................................................................................................................5 3. Women ...........................................................................................................................5 4. Audience ........................................................................................................................5 C. Our History ............................................................................................................................. 6 D. Ensemble ................................................................................................................................. 6 II. Steps to Text Analysis ........................................................................................ 7 A. Definitions and notes ..............................................................................................................7 B. Paraphrase ................................................................................................................................7 1. Tips for paraphrasing ....................................................................................................8 C. Verse or prose ......................................................................................................................... 9 D. Scan verse ................................................................................................................................ 9 1. Why write in iambic pentameter? .............................................................................10 2. Why do scansion and verse matter? ..........................................................................10 E. Sense units ..............................................................................................................................10 F. Operative words .................................................................................................................... 11 G. Rhetoric .................................................................................................................................. 12 H. Audience contact ................................................................................................................... 12 I. Other elements ...................................................................................................................... 12 1. Modes of Address ........................................................................................................ 13 i. Thee vs. You ....................................................................................................... 13 ii. Status ................................................................................................................... 13 iii. English Hierarchy .............................................................................................. 13 iv. Insults .................................................................................................................14 2. Sounds ..........................................................................................................................14 i. Alliteration ......................................................................................................... 15 ii. Assonance ........................................................................................................... 15 3. Rhyme .......................................................................................................................... 15 i. Single Rhyming Couplet marking the end of a a. scene ........................................................................................................... 15 b. play ............................................................................................................. 15 ii. Multiple Rhyming Couplets at the end ........................................................... 15 iii. Shared Rhyming Couplet ..................................................................................16 iv. Supernatural Characters .................................................................................... 17 v. Song ..................................................................................................................... 17 vi. Bad Rhyme ......................................................................................................... 17 4. Word Choice ............................................................................................................... 18 i. Oaths ................................................................................................................... 18 ii. Bawdy Jokes ........................................................................................................ 18 www.bravespiritstheatre.com 2 iii. Inarticulate Speech ............................................................................................ 18 5. Other Textual Clues ....................................................................................................19 i. Monosyllabic Lines ............................................................................................19 ii. Embedded Stage Directions .............................................................................19 iii. Punctuation ........................................................................................................19 iv. Enjambed vs. End-stopped Lines .................................................................... 20 III. Verse .............................................................................................................. 20 A. Introduction to Verse ........................................................................................................... 20 1. Types of Feet in Poetry ............................................................................................. 20 2. Types of Meter in Poetry ........................................................................................... 21 i. Tetrameter .......................................................................................................... 21 ii. Hexameter .......................................................................................................... 21 iii. Doggerel .............................................................................................................22 B. Variations in Iambic Pentameter .........................................................................................22 1. Feet Variations .............................................................................................................22 i. Amphibrach........................................................................................................22 ii. Trochee ............................................................................................................... 23 iii. Pyrrhic Spondee ................................................................................................. 23 iv. Anapest ...............................................................................................................24 v. Headless Lines ...................................................................................................24 2. Other Verse Elements ................................................................................................24 i. Shared Lines .......................................................................................................24 ii. Short Lines ......................................................................................................... 25 iii. Expansion and Contraction .............................................................................. 25 iv. Caesuras .............................................................................................................. 25 v. Other Variations ................................................................................................27 IV. Prose ...............................................................................................................27 A. Uses of Prose ..........................................................................................................................28 1. Formal Prose Speech ..................................................................................................28 2. Formal Rhetoric ..........................................................................................................28