Archaic Language.

[synesthesiac]

I have a problem with fully understanding poems/novels (u name it) written in archaic language. Is there anything you could recomment? A book, a site, anything would be great..

[Il Penseroso]

Same here, what's a good annotated Chaucer website?

[Schokokeks]

Hi synesthesiac and Penseroso !

By archaic language, syn, do you mean any of the historical forms of English (Old English, Middle English from ~ 1100, Early Modern English from ~ 1500), or are you mainly struggeling with outdated vocabulary and sentence structures found in more modern novels from the 18th or 19th century ?
If you mean the historical Englishes, I'd recommend you to get an introductory book that you skip through for a general idea of it, and then read an annotated version of the book in that language.
Edinburgh University Press (http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/edition_details.aspx?id=11503), for instance, published a series of textbooks in Old, Middle, and Early Modern English that I found very helpful. You will surely find them in a university library, if you have access to one.

If you don't, and don't like digging into old languages that much ;), you could still buy or take out from a library a decently annotated copy of the work you'd like to read. Affordable editions I can recommend for offering both an informative introduction and helpful footnotes on difficult words and expressions are the Norton Critical Editions (http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/english/nce_home.htm) as well as Penguin Classics (for the newer literature). The Norton Editions also have a lot of interesting texts on background and criticism in addition to the primary text, if you like to get a more extensive picture of the author and the period the work was written in.

Penseroso, Chaucer wrote in Middle English. I found the book I quoted above quite helpful, but since you are looking for an online tutorial, I surfed a bit and found this (http://www.unc.edu/depts/chaucer/chenglsh.htm) site, giving further links on the pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of both Middle English in general, and Chaucer in particular. In case you are also looking for a well-annotated and accessible edition for reading Chaucer, Norton (see above) has The Canterbury Tales, a collection of poems and Troilus and Criseyde on offer.

Syn and Penseroso, and of course we are looking forward to discussing both your thoughts on Chaucer or anything else with you here on the Forum. Hope to see you both around ! :)

[synesthesiac]

Thanks a lot for the information.
I have not read any Chaucer, but I do think it would be a good practice seeing that he wrote in vernacular English. I'm intrigued.

[Fango]

If you gave examples of the stuff that you read, I might have a better angle on my reply... but I wrote a free glossary for popularized archaic and poetical words (though I don't know how much it would help you) for writers, which readers can use as well.

http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Other.Detail&id=1166

[xaqxit]

When it comes to Chaucer you can *avoid* the problem by buying a "translation" into modern English that's quite literal. Though I assume when you're so close to knowing the language (just an archaic form of one you know), you might feel bad settling for a translation. Sorry if that's not of direct help, but if you just have to pick up Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde tomorrow, you can always pick up a modern English version that's still unabridged and has everything you need.

[synesthesiac]

The thing is, I wanna be able to deal with all kinds or archaic language. Translation won't do, cuz I wanna be able to actually deal with archaic language and not supersede it.

[Fango]

If you're dealing with Old English and Middle-English, I reckon you're gonna need to understand the syntax and a whole lot of new vocabulary (although it is the foundation of many of today's modern words). If you just wanna learn some archaic words that you find in Early Modern English text (like Shakespeare), use dictionaries (some online dictionaries are extremely comprehensive- you won't have to look up and under).

[early 1960s]

I was wondering if you or anyone out there can tell me where to get reputable study guides / glossaries for E.A. Poe's "The man of the Crowd" and Charles Boudelaire's Essay "The Painter of Modern Life" I've gone through cliffnotes, york notes, you name it, and cannot find guides/glossaries for either of these central works (whch I'm studying in a university course on modernism). The Poe work for example has words which I've had a challenge to define precisely. It's easy to find study guides with good glossaries for more well known stories, like "The fall of the House of Usher" or "The Dubliners" but where do you go for the something like "The Man of the Crowd"????

[PeterL]

Thanks a lot for the information.
I have not read any Chaucer, but I do think it would be a good practice seeing that he wrote in vernacular English. I'm intrigued.

Chaucer can be difficult at first, but using annotated version and reading quite a bit of his writing makes it quite easy. The language was different but not much different.

[erato]

synesthesiac i adore your picture.. i have a math test tomorrow (yet i'm more interested in learning archaic english) and i think i'm going to like the person has done in your picture :) mwahaha

[Princess_1986]

Just pretend you know what it all means....at least that's what I do...

[Old Crow]

For me, dealing with out-dated language is just a matter of reading very carefully, and paying attention to the foot notes. If I find I'm having trouble comprehending what's going on, I set the book down for a couple minutes, maybe listen to a song on my headphones, or go get a pop, or just let my mind rest, then I pick it back up and start from where I first noticed I was having trouble, breaking everything down sentence by sentence. If your working with something that's been translated, it is invaluable (at least for me) to have an edition that prints the text in both its original form and its translation, assuming of course that such an edition exists, depending on what you're reading.

[Atheorist]

Read aloud.
Better yet get someone who knows the book to read it aloud to you.
Otherwise, read along with an audiobook.

[quasimodo1]

Chaucer is just one English author that we of the old school had to read in Olde English. Besides understanding the sonorous origens of English, it is interesting to learn just how different the old language differs from the modern. If you are not into this, there are many texts written which offer the same material in present day English. It may be a copout, but at least you'll learn about the writing in a general sense. quasimodo1