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

This is Episode 171, Shakespeare's English.

In this episode, we're going to turn our attention to the word craft of William Shakespeare.

Today, many people have mixed opinions about his plays and poems.

They know that he's widely regarded as the greatest English writer of all time, but they struggle

with his language.

They read or listen to passages from the plays, and they have no idea what's going on.

So why is that?

Why is it so difficult for many modern English speakers to relate to the words of the

man who's widely regarded as a master of the language?

Well, there are many answers to that question, and in this episode, we're going to explore

what makes Shakespeare's use of the English language so unique, and why it's so challenging

for modern speakers.

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 and get bonus episodes at patreon.com slash history of English.

Now this time, we're finally going to focus on the language of William Shakespeare.

As we move forward with the story of English, we'll continue to explore historical developments,

and we'll continue to see how those developments impacted English.

But for the next couple of decades of our story, Shakespeare will be a constant looming presence.

His most well-known plays were composed during this upcoming period.

But before we go any further in the story, I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate

an episode to the way he used English. He was a language innovator and creator of new words and phrases,

...