romeo and juliet: type of english used?

Question

what type of English is used in the play Romeo and Juliet?
i think it's called Queen Elizabethian english.. something like that. how do you spell it? does anybody know for sure what it is called?
thanks in advance!!


p.s. its NOT called "old english"

Answer 1

It is sometimes called "Elizabethan English" since Queen Elizabeth was the English monarch for a large part of the16th century (when Shakespeare was born).

But the Elizabethan period is just one piece of the transition from the Middle English of Chaucer to fully Modern English. Taken together, this stage is usually called "early modern English". This period spans from roughly the invention of the printing press to the mid-17th century (1450 - 1650)

Most inflential in the development of early modern English are the Bible translations from William Tyndale (1525) through the Geneva Bible to the King James Version of 1611, and Shakespeare's works. Note that Shakespeare falls in the LATER part of this transition. He has already dropped many archaic forms still common in the Bible translation of William Tyndale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_English

see also "The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume III. Renascence and Reformation. XX. The Language from Chaucer to Shakespeare. The following clip focuses on the period of Shakespeare http://www.bartleby.com/213/2003.html

Answer 2

Elizabethan

Answer 3

If you are refering to the meter in which Shakespear wrote and thus they way they spoke, this is know as Iambic Pentameter.

Answer 4

Yes, it is also referred to as Middle English.

Answer 5

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