XPost: sci.lang, alt.usage.english, alt.poetry
HenHanna wrote:
Soul of the age!
The applause! delight! the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespeare rise.
(by Ben Jonson)
-------- in his time, age, stage, rise -- rhymed?
____________________________________________________
Lines from Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene ii):
"But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."
In Shakespeare's time, "east" would have been pronounced more like
"eastt" (with a long "e" sound) and "sun" would have been pronounced
more like "sonne" (with a long "o" sound). This creates a perfect
rhyme,
where the vowel sounds and ending consonants exactly match.
However, in modern English pronunciation, "east" has a shorter "e"
sound
and "sun" has a short "u" sound. This results in a slant rhyme, where
the vowel sounds are similar but not identical. The "st" ending
consonants still create a phonetic connection, but the overall effect
is
less perfect than it would have been for Shakespeare's audience.
___________ That makes no sense !
Perhaps it's best to find a clearer example where a perfect
rhyme in Shakespeare's time has become a non-rhyme today due to
pronunciation shifts. Here are a few options:
"Love" and "prove": In Shakespeare's time, "love" might have been
pronounced closer to "luvv" and "prove" closer to "proov", creating a
perfect rhyme. Today, they are not true rhymes.
"Bride" and "side": Similar to "love" and "prove", "bride" might
have been pronounced like "bried" and "side" like "sied", resulting in
a
perfect rhyme that is lost today.
Not to do with rhyming, but "doubt" has switched meanings during that
interval. "I doubt you can do that" would have meant (then) "I think
you can".
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