Understanding Shakespeare's English

1a. Shakespeare's use of more than 10 syllables per line:

• A. indicates to the audience that he's making fun of something.

• B. elevates the language, making it seem more refined and elegant.

• C. draws attention to the line, perhaps making it seem more important.

• D. confuses the meaning of the line, making the reader uncomfortable.

How might a playwright's use of meter help the audience?

• A. By forcing the audience to pay close attention to each line of dialogue

• B. By making it easier for the audience to follow what is happening in the play

• C. By allowing the audience to ignore the dialogue and focus on the play's action

• D. By building tension in the audience as they struggle to follow the plot

3a. What strategy does the author of the essay "Reading Shakespeare" suggest will help you unerstand difficult lines in Shakespeare's plays?

• A. Read the lines out loud.

• B. Consult a study guide

• C. Define each word.

• D. Skip unknown words.

4a. Why are Shakespeare's plays considered difficult for modern students to understand?

• A. The plays were written hundreds of years ago, and none of the themes apply to modern life.

• B. Only royalty or people in the noble classes used the elevated language in Shakespeare's plays.

• C. Shakespeare left out, or altered words so that they fit the structure of his verse.

• D. The plays were translated from another language and sometimes don't make sense.

5a. What is the differences between a comedy and a tragedy?

• A. In a comedy most of the action is experienced by a single character, while in a tragedy all of the characters are involved in the plot?

• B. In a comedy the characters battle against the protagonist, while in a tragedy the characters don't fight and usually get along.

• C. In a comedy childish rhyme is used to make people laugh, while in a tragedy iambic pentameter is used to make a line seem more important.

• D. In a comedy the protagonist is put into funny situations that lead to a happy ending, while in a tragedy the main character suffers bad luck and loss.

6a. Which word is an example of an iamb?

• A. Mother

• B. Heartbeak

• C. Today

• D. Underneath

7a. Which line is an example of trochaic tetrameter?

• A. Tyger, tyger burning bright

• B. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

• C. Juliet is the sun.

• D. Two households, both alike in dignity

8a. Which line is an example of iamic pentameter?

• A. For a charm of powerful trouble

• B. My grave is like to be my wedding bed

• C. And drink, sir, is a great/provoker of three things

• D. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

9a. Read this quotation:

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

--William Shakespeare, King Richard III, Act V, scene iv

Why is this verse an example of iambic pentameter?

• A. It is aline from Shakespeare, and his plays contain verse written only in iambic pentameter.

• B. The verse forms a pattern of an unstressed syllable immediately followed by a stressed syllable.

• C. The verse is 10 syllables long with an unstressed syllable at the beginning and end.

• D. It contains five metrical feet, each following a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.

Why did Shakespeare use iambic pentameter for the dialogue of noble characters, while commoners often spoke in blank verse or prose?

• A. To teach lower-class audience member how to speak better

• B. To show the difference between an educated, refined noble class and coarse, crude commoners

• C. To show his respect for the upper classes and let them know that he was one of them.

• D. To make fun of the upper classes for the snobby and silly way they speak