Verse

Every student is taught that there are two salient points about verse: there are ten beats to a line, and each line consists of alternating stressed and unstressed syllables.  There are whole libraries devoted to Shakespearean verse and the supposed hidden meanings of lines with irregular beats or line-lengths. Few scholars just admit that Shakespeare often wrote irregular verse because his characters needed to say those exact words. Like most Shakespearean literary theory, all sorts of opinion cloud the simple fact that Shakespeare wrote for actors. Shakespeare didn’t care what his plays looked like on the page, only what they sounded like from the stage.

I believe Shakespeare employed verse for a few practical reasons. It was a popular structure for writing. It helped actors learn lines and helped ensure they didn’t improvise. It was also economical in that its tight structure enabled four blocks of ink (quartos) per page, of expensive parchment. It was certainly not used to impose some rhythm upon the actor. The natural rhythm of English speech is soft/hard anyway.  Shakespeare wanted his actors to sound as natural as possible. He wanted them to “hold a mirror up to nature.”

We teach children as they grow that all sentences begin with a capital. When students see capitals at the beginning of every line of verse they have a very hard time reading through continuous lines of verse. They keep stopping and can’t make sense of the text.  The structure of iambic pentameter verse seriously inhibits the comprehension for modern students. The thought-verse of Shakespeare Out Loud liberates them.

Back in my early Stratford days Nicholas Pennell was considered a great verse speaker. He once told a class of students, “When meeting new verse, write it around the walls of a room with no punctuation and no capitals to first find out what the words mean.” His verse speaking was so clear and rich because he didn't follow any prescribed rules; he just made it make sense. Having students concentrate on the supposed rhythm of the text is one of the surest ways to distance them from Shakespeare. Rhythm of speech is always secondary to the thought that inspires the speech. When you start to uncover the thoughts that create the speech you will find your speech attains many speeds. In Shakespeare, thought is always changing, as is speed. I can assure you that world-class professional actors only occasionally mention, and never dwell on, rhythm – they would be giggled out of the rehearsal room. We all know it is about thought! 

Verse, schmerse. I’ll take clear, rich, fresh-minted thought any day.