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Post by potet on Jan 25, 2022 23:19:48 GMT
The danger is that Shakespeare's could well be expurgated into a caricature of his original texts. In the 19th century, a certain Bowdler did that. As we have been in a new ice age of puritanism starting from the last decades on the 20th century, the new version would be worse than the bowdlerized one.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jan 26, 2022 1:10:43 GMT
Oh, I think Bowdler was apparently a type of censor. Like ones you get today. 'Woke' and 'PC'. Using their opinion what is suitable for other people.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jan 26, 2022 1:17:54 GMT
Very true, but often simply Telling, around campfires, for many generations, and increasingly exaggerated usually. The Vikings, for example, did not have a written language, but many stories. The written word was also very expensive. Actual books excruciatingly so because they were hand copied by teams of scribes (who often changed texts they did not fully understand, plus poor translations.) They still were not exactly cheap even after the invention of the printing press that used cast movable type. The most hand-copied and later printed book, was the Bible. Often the only people who could read were kings and monks. But indeed, many stories are far from new. I think the original Robin Hood story was originally French, not English, as an example of many. The Vikings did have a system of writing, and while it is assumed today they didn't use said system much this may be due to the fact few Viking documents written on paper or parchment have survived.
www.topicpod.com/vikings/how_vikings_write.html
That may have changed after they had settled in what is now the UK, around 750 ad. |
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lonny
Librarian
Posts: 37
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Post by lonny on Jan 26, 2022 2:31:24 GMT
Shakespeare, rewritten, would lack the poetry.
Could I but tell the secrets of my boarding house, I could a tale unfold Whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, Chill thy young blood, Make thine two eyes, like stars,start from their spheres, And cause thine hairs to stand on end, Like Quills upon the fretful porcupine.
becomes:
I live it a really scary place. You wouldn't like it.
But I'm not supposed to talk about it.
Yeah, it really doesn't work for me.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2022 6:40:46 GMT
Shakespeare, rewritten, would lack the poetry.
Could I but tell the secrets of my boarding house, I could a tale unfold Whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, Chill thy young blood, Make thine two eyes, like stars,start from their spheres, And cause thine hairs to stand on end, Like Quills upon the fretful porcupine.
becomes:
I live it a really scary place. You wouldn't like it.
But I'm not supposed to talk about it.
Yeah, it really doesn't work for me.
Ok, offhand, the one thing I do remember. Let me not but to the marriage of true minds admit impediments Love is not love when it alteration finds That would translate to: Dude, don't try and change me. 😀 I couldn't resist. Just looked it up. It's actually, Which alters when it alteration finds. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2022 6:43:15 GMT
Shakespeare, rewritten, would lack the poetry.
Could I but tell the secrets of my boarding house, I could a tale unfold Whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, Chill thy young blood, Make thine two eyes, like stars,start from their spheres, And cause thine hairs to stand on end, Like Quills upon the fretful porcupine.
becomes:
I live it a really scary place. You wouldn't like it.
But I'm not supposed to talk about it.
Yeah, it really doesn't work for me.
Poetry, yes. That beat, that rhythm that sings to your soul. That's why it's lasted so many years. |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jan 27, 2022 12:55:08 GMT
I wonder how many people literally spoke like that? Not the same era, but who spoke like this? Apart from poets.
I wandered lonely as a Cloud
That floats on high o'er Vales and Hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden Daffodils;
Beside the Lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Jan 27, 2022 14:14:04 GMT
I was tripping by myself in the woods by a lake and saw a field of daffodils blowing in the breeze.
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Post by Retread-Retired-Cameron on Jan 27, 2022 18:01:44 GMT
Near the lighthouse in my mind the dinghy has sprung a leak,
I don't give a darn cause the boat isn't made of teak.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jan 28, 2022 1:40:21 GMT
Twas on the good ship Venus ...
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Post by potet on Jan 28, 2022 9:44:35 GMT
Today's French people cannot read "La Chanson de Roland" in the original because the language has changed so much since the Middle-Ages. In schools students study passages translated into Modern French.
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jan 28, 2022 14:48:45 GMT
I suspect that's the case with many languages. Until they were standardised, not least by the Guttenberg printing press, and later widespread availability of dictionaries. Plus of course the eventual creation of government run schools with the law that all kids attend them.
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Post by BlueAndGold on Jan 28, 2022 17:06:14 GMT
Yes, it was nice of the Americans to establish the proper pronunciation and spelling of English.  Hee hee... |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 29, 2022 10:27:01 GMT
Yes, it was nice of the Americans to establish the proper pronunciation and spelling of English. Hee hee... When I listen to British English I have to shuffle my mind, but the spelling is beautiful.  |
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Post by And still Kevin 2024 on Jan 29, 2022 12:27:33 GMT
Yes, it was nice of the Americans to establish the proper pronunciation and spelling of English. Hee hee... One day they will work out that a letter has a sound as well as a name Quite a while ago some American also started a dictionary removing what he considered to be pointless letters within words. But basically the originals are the actual words, because many English words are borrowed from other languages, often French. That is how they are spelled, simple |
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