
Episode 168: Witches, Demons and Fairies
The History of English Podcast
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The Fairy Queen in Early Modern English Pronunciation
In presenting these passages, I'm going to do something a little different. First, I'll read them using a contemporary modern English pronunciation. Then we'll play a clip of the same passages in early modern English. This will reflect the style of pronunciation that would have been used at the time. So here is the beginning of the fairy queen: A gentle night was pricking on the plane; and upon his breast a bloody cross he bore,. For whose sweet sake that glorious badge he wore, and dead as living ever him adored. The dark still that tame did he never wield.
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