Your Reading Experiences for R+J

[Mr. Wolfman]

Use this thread to make comments and ask questions about the language of Romeo and Juliet. Are any words or lines particularly interesting? Or weird? Or wonderful? Make comments, ask questions and help each other out.

[jonahk]

At first, when I read this, I didn't understand much. It was hard to concentrate on the reading while asking myself what every line means. It is much harder to read this than most other books. I had to read it two times to get the full meaning from it. That being said I like how shakespeare uses the same language to say two opposite things.
"Sampson: I strike quickly, being moved
Gregory: But thou art not quickly moved to strike"
Also, Shakespeare's writing flows which makes it an enjoyable read.

[arelicg]

When reading Romeo and Juliet it was difficult to understand when I read it the first time. I had to read it a couple times to understand it and I had to keep looking at the notes on the left to be able to make sense of the words Shakespeare used. Therefore, reading this amount of pages took me longer than it usually would. Even though it was hard for me to understand, I did enjoy reading the language he used. It made almost everything sound very poetic and beautiful. I liked the line when Romeo says:
"Well in that hit you miss. She'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow. She hath Dian's wit
And, in strong proof of chastity well armed,
From love's weak childish bow she lives uncharmed."

[alexc]

I think that Shakespeare's writing has a negative aspect and a positive aspect. Shakespeare's language and wording of ideas often goes "in one ear and out the other". If it weren't for the notes at the bottom of the page about the meaning of certain words and phrases, many of the lines might be even almost meaningless for me. For example, the first few lines of Act 1 Scene 1 are:
Sampson: Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals.
Gregory: No, for then we should be colliers.
Sampson: I mean, and we be in choler, we'll draw.
This conversation contains words and phrases that mean something completely different from what they sound like. However, the positive aspect to Shakespeare's writing is the fluidity of the language. When read out loud, the language flows together quite well (due to the iambic pentameter), making the play more enjoyable, especially to say in front of people.

[hannahh]

i notcied when benovis and romeo were talking, romeo was describing his deep love for juliet/how much he loves her. although, romeo would not tell him who this special lover is. when reading page 25, i had to read the side to understand that juliet already has an arranged marriage. this was something new i learned when reading the literature. i thought the way romeo described his love was wonderful and deep.

[andrewh]

When you look at the text with the right mindset (that would be a 17th century mindset), you can understand the dialogue pretty clearly-and once that happens, you can really enjoy it. I think that the conversation between Sampson, Gregory and the others is very funny. And what makes it even nicer is the class with which everything is said-the writing is a work of art.

[Ian G]

Before I started reading R+J I had the idea that it would sound like a foreign language. However, when I read it today I was surprised at how much I actually understood. Once I got past the language aspect and analyzed what the characters were saying, I found that even in the beginning there was an amount of love that is so perfectly expresses by Shakespeare that I could see why people call it the greatest love story of all time. However, I found it difficult to understand the conflict in the beginning and the cause of the fight. But that is really the only problem I ran into. I'm excited to read the rest of the book.

[caitlainm]

I was expecting Romeo and Juliet to be a tongue that we do not know well, so at parts it was difficult to do understand (as I thought it was going to be), but it was also understandable. I felt like most of the act I was able to understand without having to really question what Shakespeare was saying. There were points when I was completely lost, like when I ran into words that are used today but have different meanings, and as Ian said what the fight in the beginning was about. Overall, I really enjoyed the first reading and I am looking forward to reading more.

[lianab]

I found that when reading the two first scenes, I had to concentrate much more than I do when reading a more modern book. The translation notes on the side really helped me understand many of the trickier lines that were just too outdated for me to understand. That being said, there were also some lines where the old language made the general message seem more poetic and artistic. Basically I think there are both negative and positive aspects to Shakespeare's language.

[janicet]

When I first read the first two scenes of the book, I wasn't able to comprehend most of what was going on. However, as I read it over the second time and concentrated more on it, I was able to understand what was happening. In my perspective, not every one of the lines/passages were difficult to read, only some parts were. But when it comes to these difficult wordings, I agree with Liana about the translation notes on the side. They were/are very useful to use when reading difficult lines and wordings, making them more understandable. Overall, Shakespeare's language is very interesting and I look forward to learning more about it. Also, I deeply enjoyed reading the first two scenes of the book and I look forward to reading the rest of it.

[nateb]

When I was reading Romeo and Juliet, I also had to stop and think about what the text was saying. Reading it was confusing at first, and I had to look on the left page almost all the time, but after getting the hang of it, I felt more comfortable. I think that reading Shakespeare for the first time is a strange experience, but it is interesting to see how the language then compares to language now.

[harrisonb]

While i was reading Romeo and Juliet, it came off as confusing. I would repeat lines, trying to understand it, but it wouldn't come to me. I realized that in order to comprehend the dialogue in Romeo and Juliet, you NEED to read it out loud. It helped me a lot and I hope this advice helps others.

[rachelp]

So far, reading Romeo and Juliet has been difficult. The wording was very confusing and the vocabulary used was completely new to me. What I had to do was read a sentence, insert the modern meaning/definition from the left into the sentence, and read it again. I would then move on to the next sentence. Because of this, getting through just twelve pages of text took me a long time. I hope it will get easier as I read more and get used to Shakespeare's writing style.

[celinas]

I've read (most of) Romeo and Juliet once already, so I haven't really had many surprises so far. Occasionally I'll use the notes on the left page, doing what Rachel does (inserting the modern word into a sentence), but I can understand most of the text without doing that for the most part. I think the coolest thing about reading R+J a second time around is taking note of all of the iambic pentameter Shakespeare uses. I like writing couplets well enough, but I can't imagine writing almost an entire play in them... For the most part, though it's a bit dry, I'm enjoying the book, and am excited to see what I can get out of it a second time.

By the way, Harrison - the first time I read it, it was almost entirely aloud. It really does help, doesn't it?

[nikitar]

In reading Romeo and Juliet, I am having trouble following along with what is going on and simultaneously looking over at the meanings of some words. I basically followed the same technique as Rachel P. while reading. This, of course, made it take forever to read, and by the end, I'm still not so sure what was happening in the beginning. Although Shakespeare's writing style is definitely weird, (i.e. "Your plaintain leaf" meaning some sort of bandage?), I still got the point that Romeo was desperately pining after Juliet, a love that at the moment, could never be.