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Chapter 11

Phonetic Cues and Dramatic Function
Artistic Recitation of Metered Speech


This page contains the sound files of the readings discussed in Chapter 11, and the respective texts.




1. NOW is the winter of our discontent
    Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
    And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house
    In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
    Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
    Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
    Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings,
    Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
    Grim-visaged war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
    And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds
    To fright the souls of fearful adversaries,
    He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber
    To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
    But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks,
    Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
    I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty
    To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
    I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
    Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
    Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
    Into this breathing world; scarce half made up,
    And that so lamely and unfashionable
    That dogs bark at me as I halt by them;
    Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
    Have no delight to pass away the time,
    Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
    And descant on mine own deformity [my italics -- RT]


Listen to Simon Russel Beale's continuous reading of the opening lines of the first the soliloquy.

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2. Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace,
    Have no delight to pass away the time,
    Unless to spy my shadow in the sun
    And descant on mine own deformity :


Listen to Simon Russel Beale's reading of excerpt 2.

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3. Now is the winter of our discontent
    Made glorious summer by this sun of York


Listen to Simon Russel Beale's reading of excerpt 3.
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Listen to the words "discontent" and "York", excised from the preceding reading of excerpt 3.
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Listen to two tokens of "proportion", one read by a female reader in the audio version of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and one excised from Gloucester's soliloquy.
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4. Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
    Into this breathing world; scarce half made up
,


Listen to Simon Russel Beale's reading of the above two lines.
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Listen to two tokens of time
One excised from a reading of "Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time",
the other from a reading of "Have no delight to pass away the time"
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Listen to the phrases "But I that am... I that am... I that am... why, I" excised from a reading of excerpt 1.
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Listen to the last two items from the preceding list.
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Compare now the original and the manipulated versions of lines 3-4 of Excerpt 2.

Original Version:

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Manipulated Version
This version has been manipulated by electronic means: the vowel and [n] of sun have slightly been lengthened, and a glottal stop added between the two words:
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Listen to the line "I, that am curTAIL'D of this fair proportion".
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Listen to two tokens of "curtail", one read by a male reader in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and one excised from Gloucester's soliloquy.
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Listen online to "bright", "brighten", and the stop release excised from "bright ", as read in the Merriam‚Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Audio Edition) .


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