Deciphering Shakespeare
Shakespeare in the Everyday

Modern English / “Shakespearean” English (Early Modern)
Hello! / “Good morrow!”
“Good day!”
“God save you!”
What’s up? / “How now?”
Goodbye! / “Anon”
“Fare thee well”
“God save thee!”
yes / “aye”
“yay/yea”
no / “nay”
“indeed not”
Come here! / “Come hither!”
Where to? / “Whither?”
Listen! / “Hark!”
you / thou/thee (singular )
ye (plural)
yours / thy/thine
Mr./Mrs. / My lord/My lady
please / “I pray to thee”
“prithee”
Why? / “Wherefore?”
I think / “Methinks”
OMG! / “Zounds!”
“Alack!”
Ya, right! / “Fie!”

A note about verbs: Shakespeare often added t/st/est OR th/eth to verbs. Just take off that extra part at the end and you’ll be left with a verb you know well.

Here’s a handy list of some of the more common words Shakespeare used:

  • ABHOR – To reject, disdain
  • ABSOLUTE – Without flaw, perfect
  • ADDICTION – Tendency, proneness
  • BALK – To hesitate, chop; to dispute
  • BRAVE – Handsome
  • CHARACTER – Letter, word
  • COIL – Distress, trouble
  • COUCH – To go to sleep
  • CUNNING – Clever, sharp
  • DELATION – Accusation
  • DESERVING – Merit, reward
  • DRAW – To bring near, call to
  • EGAL – Equal
  • EMBOSS – To track with the intent to kill
  • EXPEDIENCE – Quickness
  • FANCY – To desire
  • FEAR – To scare, frighten
  • FRONT – To oppose, affront, object
  • GAST – Scared, aghast
  • GRAVE – To inter, bury
  • HEAVY – Sad, painful, mournful
  • HONEST – Pure
  • INHERIT – Given; to accept or believe
  • INTPINSE – Impossible to untangle
  • JUDICIOUS – Fair, equitable
  • KNAP – To hit, strike
  • KNAVE – A young boy, a servant
  • LAND – Yard
  • LAPSED – Shocked, overcome
  • MAD – Crazy, wild
  • MATE – To confuse; to match
  • NOTE – Bill, list; to take note of
  • O’ER-RAUHOT, O’ER WROGHT – Overcome
  • OUGHT – Privy to, promised
  • PAINFUL – Difficult, hard to do
  • PALL – To wrap up
  • PARTICOAT – To cover in colorful fabric
  • PERPEND – To think of, consider
  • QUAINT – Beautiful, ornate
  • QUAKE – To shake, tremble
  • QUICKEN – To bring to life, bring to one’s senses
  • RAPTURE – A fit, ecstasy
  • RETIRE - To go to bed, to retreat
  • RAVIN – Likely to destroy; hunger
  • RESPECT – Forethought, consideration
  • SHRIFT – To admit
  • SIMULAR – Counterfeit
  • STILL – Always, forever
  • SUBSCRIPTION – Acquiescence, obedience
  • TAKE – To overtake; to enthrall
  • TAX – Blame, censure
  • TESTY – Worrisome
  • TRIGON – A triangle
  • UNDERGO – To take on
  • UNPREGNANT – Idiotic, inane
  • VILE – Disgusting, hateful
  • VINDICATIVE – Vengeful
  • WALL-EYED – Wide-eyed, angry, surprised
  • WANT – To lack
  • YARE – Prepared, ready
  • YOUNG – Recent
  • ZANY – Idiotic, clownish

Steps to Deciphering

Shakespeare’s Poetry

“If you take it one step at a time, though, you’ll find Shakespeare’s language almost as easy to understand as your everyday English—and easier to understand than the lyrics of many popular songs.”

—Shakespeare for Dummies

  1. Read Through Aloud– Read through the poem or passage once to get a feel for how it sounds and to see if you can pick up a general sense of the tone (the author’s “attitude”).
  1. Identify the Parts – Number the lines and then label the quatrains, the couplet, and the rhyme scheme. Mark the stressed syllables of the iambic pentameter with an accent.
  1. Read Again for Rhythm – Now read the poem again, this time really emphasizing or exaggerating those stressed syllables to get a feel for the rhythm. (Try tapping it out!)
  1. Read Once More – Read it once more aloud normally but still putting the stress on the right syllables. The iambic meter should start to sound like the heartbeat of the poem.
  1. Define – Look up and write down the definitions of any words that you don’t know. Try looking in a Shakespeare glossary first, as many of the words he used that may seem familiar to us actually had different meanings in his time.
  1. Literary Techniques –Decipher and translate the suggested meaning of figurative language, such as metaphors, personification, etc.
  1. Rearrange Words – If you notice that the verb comes at the end of a sentence or the object comes at the beginning, try reordering the words so they follow the S-V-O pattern we are used to.
  1. Paraphrase – Translate each line into your own words using language that makes sense to you but doesn’t change the original meaning. (Try using as few of the original words in your translation as possible.)

Poetry Resource:

Literary Techniques

Sound: These techniques help determine what the poem sounds like (rhythm, beat).

Alliteration – the repeating of beginning consonant sounds (ex. She sells sea shells.....)

Onomatopoeia –the use of a word whose sound makes you think of its meaning (ex: crunch, buzz)

Rhyme scheme –the pattern of rhyming words within a poem

Repetition –the repeating of a word or phrase to add rhythm or emphasize an idea

Figurative Language: These techniques contribute to the picture that the words “paint” in the reader’s mind (also known as imagery).

Personification –when an idea, object, or animal is given human characteristics (ex: “The ocean murmured.”)

Metaphor –a comparison between two different things (ex: “Life is one tangled ball of yarn.”)

Simile –a comparison between two different things using like or as (ex: “The apple tasted like innocence.”)

Hyperbole –an exaggeration used for emphasis (ex: “I practically died of embarrassment.”)

Structure: These techniques shape what the poem looks like and determine how it flows.

Line break

End-stop is when a sentence or clause in a poem ends at the end of a line.

Enjambment is a when the poet allows a sentence or clause to leak over into the next line.

Stanza (couplet & quatrain) –a division in a poem named for the number of lines it has

quatrain = four lines

couplet = two lines