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BEOWULF~800 A.D.
LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped, we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes, from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore, awing the earls. Since erst he lay friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
“The General Prologue”
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
(circa 1348 A.D.)
1: Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote 2: The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, 3: And bathed every veyne in swich licour 4: Of which vertu engendred is the flour; 5: Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth 6: Inspired hath in every holt and heeth 7: Tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne 8: Hath in the ram his halve cours yronne, 9: And smale foweles maken melodye, 10: That slepen al the nyght with open ye 11: (so priketh hem nature in hir corages); 12: Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages.
1 Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote When April with its sweet-smelling showers2 The droghte of March hath perced to the roote, Has pierced the drought of March to the root,3 And bathed every veyne in swich licour And bathed every vein (of the plants) in such liquid4 Of which vertu engendred is the flour; By whose power the flour is engendered;5 Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth When the West Wind also with its sweet breath,6 Inspired hath in every holt and heeth In every holt and heath, has breathed life into 7 The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne The tender crops, and the young sun8 Hath in the Ram his half cours yronne, Has run its half course in Aries,9 And smale foweles maken melodye, And small fowls make melody,10 That slepen al the nyght with open ye Those that sleep all the night with open eyes11 (So priketh hem Nature in hir corages), (So Nature incites them in their hearts),12 Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, Then folk long to go on pilgrimages,
[King Lear (Quarto) 1.1] (1609)Enter Kent, Gloster, and Bastard. Kent.I Thought the King had more affected the Duke of Al-bany then Cornwell. Glost. It did allwaies seeme so to vs, but now in thediuision of the kingdomes, it appeares not which ofthe Dukes he values most, for equalities are so weighed, that cu-riositie in neither, can make choise of eithers moytie. Kent. Is not this your sonne my Lord? Glost. His breeding sir hath beene at my charge, I haue so often blusht to acknowledge him, that now I am braz'd to it. Kent. I cannot conceiue you.
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 dimmed,And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: 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.
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time;And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more. It is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing. (V,v)
WantNeitherMercyMakeLordIHead
FairDownCup
Elizabethan Pronunciations
1609
Cordeilla Queene
Cordeilla the yongest daughter of Leir was admitted for Queen & supreme gouernoure of Britayne, in the yeere of the World. 355. before the building of Rome. 54. . . . This Cordeilla ofter hir fathers desease ruled the land of Britayne right worthily during the space of fiue yeres.
