In this episode, we explore the influence of seafaring on the English language in the early 1600s. We also look at events in the latter half of the 1620s, which included the first permanent English...
In this episode, we explore two important developments in North America. First, we examine the legendary story of the Pilgrims’ arrival in New England in 1620 and the establishment of the Plymouth ...
In the second part of our look at the sound of English in the early 1600s, we continue to explore the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that each letter represents. We explore the letters K th...
Over the course of the 1500s, English spelling started to become standardized, but the pronunciation of the language continued to change. By the early 1600s, English scholars noticed that spellings...
In the early 1600s, cotton fabrics made in India were in high demand throughout Asia and Africa. When the English and Dutch arrived in India and Japan, they realized how popular the fabric was, and...
In the early 1600s, English began to spread around the world as speakers searched for new trading partners and new places to settle. Through that process, English become an international language, ...
The invention of the telescope in the early 1600s laid the foundation for the scientific revolution, but it also disrupted the traditional view of the universe and led to a conflict with the Cathol...
In the first decade of the 1600s, English speakers were on the move as they established the first permanent English settlement in North America. They also began a steady a migration to northern Ire...
In the early 1600s, several landmark events shaped the history of England and determined how and where the English language would be spoken in the centuries that followed. The period from 1602-1605...
In the first couple of years of the 1600s, several new Shakespeare plays appeared. Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It were recorded in the Stationer’s Register, and a third play called The T...
In this episode, we look at clothing and fashion in the Elizabethan era, and we examine the connection between clothing, custom and language. We also examine Shakespeare’s plays about the lives of ...
Theaters were an important part of cultural life in Elizabethan England, and they contributed many words to the English language. Those words joined thousands of other words that were pouring into ...
Romeo and Juliet is one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays and one of the most popular plays ever written. In this episode, we examine the language of the play to see how it reflects the E...
English spelling largely reflects the state of the language in the late 1500s. In this episode, we look at one of the first English spelling books, and we explore several plays by William Shakespea...
In this episode, we look at the development of English comedy in the early modern era. We examine some of William Shakespeare’s early comedies, and we also distinguish Shakespearean comedy from oth...
In this episode, we explore the concept of a successful succession. During the early 1590s, France was divided by a bitter conflict over the succession of Henry of Navarre to the French throne. Mea...
In this episode, we turn our attention to the wordcraft of William Shakespeare. Today, many people have mixed opinions about his plays and poems. They know that he is widely regarded as the greates...
In this episode, we examine the connection between poetry and plague in the early 1590s. An outbreak of the recurring sickness contributed to Shakespeare’s early career as a poet, and that poetry l...
William Shakespeare is widely considered to be the most important writer in the history of the English language, but relatively little is known about his personal life. The desire to know more abou...
In this episode, we explore the Elizabethan fascination with witchcraft and mysterious creatures like fairies and demons. Those subjects feature prominently in the literature of the period, and the...
