Welcome to the History of English Podcast, a podcast about the history of the English

language.

This is Episode 163, an elementary education.

In this episode, we're going to continue our look at the Elizabethan period, and we're

going to move the story into the second half of Elizabeth's reign.

The period of the 1580s marked a sea change in the overall history of English.

For the first time, many writers and scholars began to write about the beauty and sophistication

of English.

They argued that it was no longer a rustic vernacular, but was instead every bit the equal

of Latin and Greek.

And that was really a new idea, and it had significant ramifications for the English language

and English literature.

It led to a more formalized study of English, and it encouraged those who wanted to standardize

the language.

And it soon led to the first English grammar book, and then the first English dictionary.

And as we'll see, it also contributed to a poetic form of English prose that would

soon dominate the stages of London.

So this time, we'll look at how English became self-confident, and how it contributed

to the way we write the language every day.

But before we begin, let me remind you that the website for the podcast is historyofenglishpodcast.com.

And you can sign up to support the podcast to get bonus episodes at patreon.com slash

historyofenglish.

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