Chapter 7: Early Modern English: 1500-1700
In England the Renaissance and Early Modern English began a little before 1500. The Renaissance is a time of freedom of ideas; for language that means freedom in creating and borrowing words. During the Renaissance, English continues to become more analytic. By 1700, the Great Vowel Shift is more or less complete and spelling relatively uniform; 1700 is therefore considered the end of this period even though that date, like 1500, is somewhat debatable.
Useful Links
General
Early Modern English resources.
Printing
The University of Duisburg-Essen site has nice images of early printed pages.
Sounds
This site has a rendition of a monologue in Richard II and the Renfaire has a page on proper Elizabethan accent.
David and Ben Crystal discuss using Early Modern English in the Globe.
Grammar
Tufts hosts a copy of a comparative grammar of Early Modern English, written in 1870 and the University of Duisburg-Essen has material on Shakespearean grammar.
Texts
The University of Pennsylvania has a site with many texts, both Early Modern and Modern English.
Shakespeare
The Internet Shakespeare Editions has high quality facsimilies of Shakespeare's Folios and Quartos available for viewing online.
Neither Elly van Gelderen, Tim Gades, nor ASU is responsible in any way for the information provided by the external links on this page, and make no claims as to its applicability or accuracy.